RNA aptamers against transferrin receptor (TFR)

ABSTRACT

Provided herein, inter alia, are nucleic acid compounds capable of binding transferrin receptor on a cell and internalizing into said cell. The compositions provided herein may be useful for delivering therapeutic and diagnostic agents to a cell. Further provided are pharmaceutical compositions and methods of treatment using nucleic acid compounds provided herein.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a national stage entry under 35 U.S.C. 371 ofinternational application no. PCT/US2015/055792, filed Oct. 15, 2015,which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/064,310,filed Oct. 15, 2014, the content of which is incorporated herein byreference in their entirety and for all purposes.

REFERENCE TO A “SEQUENCE LISTING,” A TABLE, OR A COMPUTER PROGRAMLISTING APPENDIX SUBMITTED AS AN ASCII FILE

The Sequence Listing written in file 048440-551N01US_2_ST25.TXT, createdNov. 14, 2019, 1,404 bytes, machine format IBM-PC, MS-Windows operatingsystem, is hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The transferrin receptor (TfR) is a membrane glycoprotein expressed onthe cellular surface and mediates cellular uptake of iron from theplasma glycoprotein transferrin. Iron uptake from transferrin involvesthe binding of transferrin to TfR. The bound transferrin is theninternalized through receptor-mediated endocytosis in an endocyticvesicle. The release of transferrin from TfR is induced by a decrease inthe pH within the endocytic vescile. TfR is expressed on a broad varietyof cells at varying levels. For example, TfR is highly expressed onimmature erythroid cells, placental tissue, and rapidly dividing cells,both normal and malignant. Thus, compounds capable of binding to TfR onthe surface of TfR-expressing cells and internalizing into the cellwould be very useful for targeted delivery of such compounds. Providedherein are compositions and methods addressing these and other needs inthe art.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Provided herein, inter alia, are novel nucleic acid compositions capableof binding to a transferrin receptor on a cell and internalizing intothe cell. The nucleic acid compositions provided herein are, forexample, useful for the delivery of therapeutic and imaging agents intocells expressing a transferrin receptor.

In one aspect, a ribonucleic acid compound capable of binding to atransferrin receptor on a cell and internalizing into the cell isprovided.

In one aspect, a ribonucleic acid compound including an RNA sequencehaving at least 80% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQID NO:3 is provided and the RNA sequence is at least 50 nucleotides inlength.

In one aspect, a ribonucleic acid compound including an RNA sequencehaving at least 80% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQID NO:3 is provided and the RNA sequence is at least 40 nucleotides inlength.

In another aspect, a pharmaceutical formulation including theribonucleic acid compound provided herein including embodiments thereofand a pharmaceutically acceptable excipient is provided.

In another aspect, a pharmaceutical formulation including theribonucleic acid compound provided herein including embodiments thereofand a therapeutic agent is provided.

In another aspect, a method of delivering a compound moiety into a cellis provided. The method includes (i) contacting a cell with theribonucleic acid provided herein including embodiments thereof, and (ii)allowing the ribonucleic acid compound to bind to a transferrin receptoron the cell and pass into the cell thereby delivering the compoundmoiety into the cell.

In another aspect, a method of delivering a compound into a cell isprovided. The method includes (i) contacting a cell with a compound andthe ribonucleic acid compound provided herein including embodimentsthereof, and (ii) allowing the ribonucleic acid compound to bind to atransferrin receptor on the cell and the compound to pass into the cellthereby delivering the compound into the cell.

In another aspect, a method of treating cancer is provided. The methodincludes administering to a subject in need thereof an effective amountof the ribonucleic acid compound provided herein including embodimentsthereof, wherein the ribonucleic acid compound further includes ananticancer therapeutic moiety.

In another aspect, a method of treating cancer is provided. The methodincludes administering to a subject in need thereof an effective amountof an anticancer agent and the ribonucleic acid compound provided hereinincluding embodiments thereof.

In another aspect, a method of detecting a cell is provided. The methodincludes (i) contacting a cell with the ribonucleic acid compoundprovided herein including embodiments thereof, wherein the ribonucleicacid compound further includes an imaging moiety. (ii) The ribonucleicacid compound is allowed to bind to a transferrin receptor on the celland pass into the cell, and (iii) the imaging moiety is detected therebydetecting the cell.

In another aspect, a method of detecting a cell is provided. The methodincludes (i) contacting a cell with an imaging agent and the ribonucleicacid compound provided herein including embodiments thereof (ii) Theribonucleic acid compound is allowed to bind to a transferrin receptoron the cell and the imaging agent is allowed to pass into the cell, and(iii) the imaging agent is detected thereby detecting the cell.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1: Mfold structure of aptamer TR14 (SEQ ID NO:1) (left panel) andaptamer TR18 (SEQ ID NO:2) (right panel).

FIG. 2: Kinetics of aptamer TR14.

FIG. 3: Cell internalization of a fluorescently (Cy3) labeled controlRNA (left panel), Cy3 labeled aptamer TR14 (mid panel) and Cy3 labeledaptamer TR 18 (right panel) in liver cells (HepG2). Nuclear staining wasperformed using Hoechst.

FIG. 4: Cell internalization of fluorescently (Cy3) labeled aptamer TR14in liver cells (HepG2) (left panel) and pancreatic cells (Mia PaCa-2)(right panel). Nuclear staining was performed using Hoechst.

FIG. 5: Cell internalization of fluorescently (Cy3) labeled aptamer TR14in breast cancer cells (MCF7) (left panel) and prostate cancer cells(PC3) (right panel). Nuclear staining was performed using Hoechst.

FIG. 6: Kinetics of truncated TfR aptamer (43-mer).

FIG. 7: Cell internalization of a fluorescently labeled truncated TfRaptamer in PANC-1 cells. Top left panel: bright field; top right panelnuclear staining with Hoechst; bottom left panel: localization of Cy5labeled truncated TfR aptamer; bottom right panel: colocalization ofHoechst and Cy5.

FIG. 8: Cell internalization of a fluorescently labeled truncated TfRaptamer in HegG2 cells. Top left panel: bright field; top right panelnuclear staining with Hoechst; bottom left panel: localization of Cy5labeled truncated TfR aptamer; bottom right panel: colocalization ofHoechst and Cy5.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Definitions

While various embodiments and aspects of the present invention are shownand described herein, it will be obvious to those skilled in the artthat such embodiments and aspects are provided by way of example only.Numerous variations, changes, and substitutions will now occur to thoseskilled in the art without departing from the invention. It should beunderstood that various alternatives to the embodiments of the inventiondescribed herein may be employed in practicing the invention.

The section headings used herein are for organizational purposes onlyand are not to be construed as limiting the subject matter described.All documents, or portions of documents, cited in the applicationincluding, without limitation, patents, patent applications, articles,books, manuals, and treatises are hereby expressly incorporated byreference in their entirety for any purpose.

The abbreviations used herein have their conventional meaning within thechemical and biological arts. The chemical structures and formulae setforth herein are constructed according to the standard rules of chemicalvalency known in the chemical arts.

Unless defined otherwise, technical and scientific terms used hereinhave the same meaning as commonly understood by a person of ordinaryskill in the art. See, e.g., Singleton et al., DICTIONARY OFMICROBIOLOGY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY 2nd ed., J. Wiley & Sons (New York,N.Y. 1994); Sambrook et al., MOLECULAR CLONING, A LABORATORY MANUAL,Cold Springs Harbor Press (Cold Springs Harbor, N Y 1989). Any methods,devices and materials similar or equivalent to those described hereincan be used in the practice of this invention. The following definitionsare provided to facilitate understanding of certain terms usedfrequently herein and are not meant to limit the scope of the presentdisclosure.

“Nucleic acid” refers to deoxyribonucleotides or ribonucleotides andpolymers thereof in either single-, double- or multiple-stranded form,or complements thereof. The term “polynucleotide” refers to a linearsequence of nucleotides. The term “nucleotide” typically refers to asingle unit of a polynucleotide, i.e., a monomer. Nucleotides can beribonucleotides, deoxyribonucleotides, or modified versions thereof.Examples of polynucleotides contemplated herein include single anddouble stranded DNA, single and double stranded RNA (including siRNA),and hybrid molecules having mixtures of single and double stranded DNAand RNA. Nucleic acids can be linear or branched. For example, nucleicacids can be a linear chain of nucleotides or the nucleic acids can bebranched, e.g., such that the nucleic acids comprise one or more arms orbranches of nucleotides. Optionally, the branched nucleic acids arerepetitively branched to form higher ordered structures such asdendrimers and the like.

Nucleic acids, including nucleic acids with a phosphothioate backbonecan include one or more reactive moieties. As used herein, the termreactive moiety includes any group capable of reacting with anothermolecule, e.g., a nucleic acid or polypeptide through covalent,non-covalent or other interactions. By way of example, the nucleic acidcan include an amino acid reactive moiety that reacts with an amino acidon a protein or polypeptide through a covalent, non-covalent or otherinteraction.

The terms also encompass nucleic acids containing known nucleotideanalogs or modified backbone residues or linkages, which are synthetic,naturally occurring, and non-naturally occurring, which have similarbinding properties as the reference nucleic acid, and which aremetabolized in a manner similar to the reference nucleotides. Examplesof such analogs include, without limitation, phosphodiester derivativesincluding, e.g., phosphoramidate, phosphorodiamidate, phosphorothioate(also known as phosphothioate), phosphorodithioate, phosphonocarboxylicacids, phosphonocarboxylates, phosphonoacetic acid, phosphonoformicacid, methyl phosphonate, boron phosphonate, or O-methylphosphoroamiditelinkages (see Eckstein, Oligonucleotides and Analogues: A PracticalApproach, Oxford University Press); and peptide nucleic acid backbonesand linkages. Other analog nucleic acids include those with positivebackbones; non-ionic backbones, modified sugars, and non-ribosebackbones (e.g. phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligos or locked nucleicacids (LNA)), including those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,235,033 and5,034,506, and Chapters 6 and 7, ASC Symposium Series 580, CarbohydrateModifications in Antisense Research, Sanghui & Cook, eds. Nucleic acidscontaining one or more carbocyclic sugars are also included within onedefinition of nucleic acids. Modifications of the ribose-phosphatebackbone may be done for a variety of reasons, e.g., to increase thestability and half-life of such molecules in physiological environmentsor as probes on a biochip. Mixtures of naturally occurring nucleic acidsand analogs can be made; alternatively, mixtures of different nucleicacid analogs, and mixtures of naturally occurring nucleic acids andanalogs may be made. In embodiments, the internucleotide linkages in DNAare phosphodiester, phosphodiester derivatives, or a combination ofboth.

The words “complementary” or “complementarity” refer to the ability of anucleic acid in a polynucleotide to form a base pair with anothernucleic acid in a second polynucleotide. For example, the sequence A-G-Tis complementary to the sequence T-C-A. Complementarity may be partial,in which only some of the nucleic acids match according to base pairing,or complete, where all the nucleic acids match according to basepairing.

The term “probe” or “primer”, as used herein, is defined to be one ormore nucleic acid fragments whose specific hybridization to a sample canbe detected. A probe or primer can be of any length depending on theparticular technique it will be used for. For example, PCR primers aregenerally between 10 and 40 nucleotides in length, while nucleic acidprobes for, e.g., a Southern blot, can be more than a hundrednucleotides in length. The probe may be unlabeled or labeled asdescribed below so that its binding to the target or sample can bedetected. The probe can be produced from a source of nucleic acids fromone or more particular (preselected) portions of a chromosome, e.g., oneor more clones, an isolated whole chromosome or chromosome fragment, ora collection of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification products.The length and complexity of the nucleic acid fixed onto the targetelement is not critical to the invention. One of skill can adjust thesefactors to provide optimum hybridization and signal production for agiven hybridization procedure, and to provide the required resolutionamong different genes or genomic locations.

The probe may also be isolated nucleic acids immobilized on a solidsurface (e.g., nitrocellulose, glass, quartz, fused silica slides), asin an array. In some embodiments, the probe may be a member of an arrayof nucleic acids as described, for instance, in WO 96/17958. Techniquescapable of producing high density arrays can also be used for thispurpose (see, e.g., Fodor (1991) Science 767-773; Johnston (1998) Curr.Biol. 8: R171-R174; Schummer (1997) Biotechniques 23: 1087-1092; Kern(1997) Biotechniques 23: 120-124; U.S. Pat. No. 5,143,854).

The term “gene” means the segment of DNA involved in producing aprotein; it includes regions preceding and following the coding region(leader and trailer) as well as intervening sequences (introns) betweenindividual coding segments (exons). The leader, the trailer as well asthe introns include regulatory elements that are necessary during thetranscription and the translation of a gene. Further, a “protein geneproduct” is a protein expressed from a particular gene.

The word “expression” or “expressed” as used herein in reference to agene means the transcriptional and/or translational product of thatgene. The level of expression of a DNA molecule in a cell may bedetermined on the basis of either the amount of corresponding mRNA thatis present within the cell or the amount of protein encoded by that DNAproduced by the cell. The level of expression of non-coding nucleic acidmolecules (e.g., siRNA) may be detected by standard PCR or Northern blotmethods well known in the art. See, Sambrook et al., 1989 MolecularCloning: A Laboratory Manual, 18.1-18.88.

The term “aptamer” as provided herein refers to oligonucleotides (e.g.short oligonucleotides or deoxyribonucleotides), that bind (e.g. withhigh affinity and specificity) to proteins, peptides, and smallmolecules. Aptamers may have secondary or tertiary structure and, thus,may be able to fold into diverse and intricate molecular structures.Aptamers can be selected in vitro from very large libraries ofrandomized sequences by the process of systemic evolution of ligands byexponential enrichment (SELEX as described in Ellington AD, Szostak JW(1990) In vitro selection of RNA molecules that bind specific ligands.Nature 346:818-822; Tuerk C, Gold L (1990) Systematic evolution ofligands by exponential enrichment: RNA ligands to bacteriophage T4 DNApolymerase. Science 249:505-510) or by developing SOMAmers (slowoff-rate modified aptamers) (Gold L et al. (2010) Aptamer-basedmultiplexed proteomic technology for biomarker discovery. PLoS ONE5(12):e15004). Applying the SELEX and the SOMAmer technology includesfor instance adding functional groups that mimic amino acid side chainsto expand the aptamer's chemical diversity. As a result high affinityaptamers for almost any protein target are enriched and identified.Aptamers exhibit many desirable properties for targeted drug delivery,such as ease of selection and synthesis, high binding affinity andspecificity, low immunogenicity, and versatile synthetic accessibility.To date, a variety of anti-cancer agents (e.g. chemotherapy drugs,toxins, and siRNAs) have been successfully delivered to cancer cells invitro using apatmers.

An “antisense nucleic acid” as referred to herein is a nucleic acid(e.g. DNA or RNA molecule) that is complementary to at least a portionof a specific target nucleic acid (e.g. an mRNA translatable into aprotein) and is capable of reducing transcription of the target nucleicacid (e.g. mRNA from DNA) or reducing the translation of the targetnucleic acid (e.g. mRNA) or altering transcript splicing (e.g. singlestranded morpholino oligo). See, e.g., Weintraub, Scientific American,262:40 (1990). Typically, synthetic antisense nucleic acids (e.g.oligonucleotides) are generally between 15 and 25 bases in length. Thus,antisense nucleic acids are capable of hybridizing to (e.g. selectivelyhybridizing to) a target nucleic acid (e.g. target mRNA). Inembodiments, the antisense nucleic acid hybridizes to the target nucleicacid sequence (e.g. mRNA) under stringent hybridization conditions. Inembodiments, the antisense nucleic acid hybridizes to the target nucleicacid (e.g. mRNA) under moderately stringent hybridization conditions.Antisense nucleic acids may comprise naturally occurring nucleotides ormodified nucleotides such as, e.g., phosphorothioate, methylphosphonate,and -anomeric sugar-phosphate, backbone modified nucleotides.

In the cell, the antisense nucleic acids hybridize to the correspondingmRNA, forming a double-stranded molecule. The antisense nucleic acidsinterfere with the translation of the mRNA, since the cell will nottranslate an mRNA that is double-stranded. The use of antisense methodsto inhibit the in vitro translation of genes is well known in the art(Marcus-Sakura, Anal. Biochem., 172:289, (1988)). Further, antisensemolecules which bind directly to the DNA may be used. Antisense nucleicacids may be single or double stranded nucleic acids. Non-limitingexamples of antisense nucleic acids include siRNAs (including theirderivatives or precursors, such as nucleotide analogs), short hairpinRNAs (shRNA), micro RNAs (miRNA), saRNAs (small activating RNAs) andsmall nucleolar RNAs (snoRNA) or certain of their derivatives orpre-cursors.

A “siRNA,” “small interfering RNA,” “small RNA,” or “RNAi” as providedherein, refers to a nucleic acid that forms a double stranded RNA, whichdouble stranded RNA has the ability to reduce or inhibit expression of agene or target gene when expressed in the same cell as the gene ortarget gene. The complementary portions of the nucleic acid thathybridize to form the double stranded molecule typically havesubstantial or complete identity. In one embodiment, a siRNA or RNAi isa nucleic acid that has substantial or complete identity to a targetgene and forms a double stranded siRNA. In embodiments, the siRNAinhibits gene expression by interacting with a complementary cellularmRNA thereby interfering with the expression of the complementary mRNA.Typically, the nucleic acid is at least about 15-50 nucleotides inlength (e.g., each complementary sequence of the double stranded siRNAis 15-50 nucleotides in length, and the double stranded siRNA is about15-50 base pairs in length). In other embodiments, the length is 20-30base nucleotides, preferably about 20-25 or about 24-29 nucleotides inlength, e.g., 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, or 30 nucleotidesin length.

A “saRNA,” or “small activating RNA” as provided herein refers to anucleic acid that forms a double stranded RNA, which double stranded RNAhas the ability to increase or activate expression of a gene or targetgene when expressed in the same cell as the gene or target gene. Thecomplementary portions of the nucleic acid that hybridize to form thedouble stranded molecule typically have substantial or completeidentity. In one embodiment, a saRNA is a nucleic acid that hassubstantial or complete identity to a target gene and forms a doublestranded saRNA. Typically, the nucleic acid is at least about 15-50nucleotides in length (e.g., each complementary sequence of the doublestranded saRNA is 15-50 nucleotides in length, and the double strandedsaRNA is about 15-50 base pairs in length). In other embodiments, thelength is 20-30 base nucleotides, preferably about 20-25 or about 24-29nucleotides in length, e.g., 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, or30 nucleotides in length.

The term “isolated”, when applied to a nucleic acid or protein, denotesthat the nucleic acid or protein is essentially free of other cellularcomponents with which it is associated in the natural state. It can be,for example, in a homogeneous state and may be in either a dry oraqueous solution. Purity and homogeneity are typically determined usinganalytical chemistry techniques such as polyacrylamide gelelectrophoresis or high performance liquid chromatography. A proteinthat is the predominant species present in a preparation issubstantially purified.

The term “purified” denotes that a nucleic acid or protein gives rise toessentially one band in an electrophoretic gel. In some embodiments, thenucleic acid or protein is at least 50% pure, optionally at least 65%pure, optionally at least 75% pure, optionally at least 85% pure,optionally at least 95% pure, and optionally at least 99% pure.

The term “isolated” may also refer to a cell or sample cells. Anisolated cell or sample cells are a single cell type that issubstantially free of many of the components which normally accompanythe cells when they are in their native state or when they are initiallyremoved from their native state. In certain embodiments, an isolatedcell sample retains those components from its natural state that arerequired to maintain the cell in a desired state. In some embodiments,an isolated (e.g. purified, separated) cell or isolated cells, are cellsthat are substantially the only cell type in a sample. A purified cellsample may contain at least 60%, 70%, 75%, 80%, 85%, 90%, 95%, 96%, 97%,98%, 99%, or 100% of one type of cell. An isolated cell sample may beobtained through the use of a cell marker or a combination of cellmarkers, either of which is unique to one cell type in an unpurifiedcell sample. In some embodiments, the cells are isolated through the useof a cell sorter. In some embodiments, antibodies against cell proteinsare used to isolate cells.

As used herein, the term “conjugate” refers to the association betweenatoms or molecules. The association can be direct or indirect. Forexample, a conjugate between a nucleic acid (e.g., ribonucleic acid) anda compound moiety as provided herein can be direct, e.g., by covalentbond, or indirect, e.g., by non-covalent bond. Optionally, conjugatesare formed using conjugate chemistry including, but are not limited tonucleophilic substitutions (e.g., reactions of amines and alcohols withacyl halides, active esters), electrophilic substitutions (e.g., enaminereactions) and additions to carbon-carbon and carbon-heteroatom multiplebonds (e.g., Michael reaction, Diels-Alder addition). These and otheruseful reactions are discussed in, for example, March, ADVANCED ORGANICCHEMISTRY, 3rd Ed., John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1985; Hermanson,BIOCONJUGATE TECHNIQUES, Academic Press, San Diego, 1996; and Feeney etal., MODIFICATION OF PROTEINS; Advances in Chemistry Series, Vol. 198,American Chemical Society, Washington, D.C., 1982. Thus, the nucleicacid acids can be attached to a compound moiety through its backbone.Optionally, the ribonucleic acid includes one or more reactive moieties,e.g., an amino acid reactive moiety, that facilitates the interaction ofthe ribonucleic acid with the compound moiety.

Useful reactive moieties or functional groups used for conjugatechemistries herein include, for example:

(a) carboxyl groups and various derivatives thereof including, but notlimited to, N-hydroxysuccinimide esters, N-hydroxybenztriazole esters,acid halides, acyl imidazoles, thioesters, p-nitrophenyl esters, alkyl,alkenyl, alkynyl and aromatic esters;

(b) hydroxyl groups which can be converted to esters, ethers, aldehydes,etc.

(c) haloalkyl groups wherein the halide can be later displaced with anucleophilic group such as, for example, an amine, a carboxylate anion,thiol anion, carbanion, or an alkoxide ion, thereby resulting in thecovalent attachment of a new group at the site of the halogen atom;

(d) dienophile groups which are capable of participating in Diels-Alderreactions such as, for example, maleimido groups;

(e) aldehyde or ketone groups such that subsequent derivatization ispossible via formation of carbonyl derivatives such as, for example,imines, hydrazones, semicarbazones or oximes, or via such mechanisms asGrignard addition or alkyllithium addition;

(f) sulfonyl halide groups for subsequent reaction with amines, forexample, to form sulfonamides;

(g) thiol groups, which can be converted to disulfides, reacted withacyl halides, or bonded to metals such as gold;

(h) amine or sulfhydryl groups, which can be, for example, acylated,alkylated or oxidized;

(i) alkenes, which can undergo, for example, cycloadditions, acylation,Michael addition, etc;

(j) epoxides, which can react with, for example, amines and hydroxylcompounds;

(k) phosphoramidites and other standard functional groups useful innucleic acid synthesis;

(l) metal silicon oxide bonding;

(m) metal bonding to reactive phosphorus groups (e.g. phosphines) toform, for example, phosphate diester bonds; and

(n) sulfones, for example, vinyl sulfone.

The reactive functional groups can be chosen such that they do notparticipate in, or interfere with, the chemical stability of theproteins described herein. By way of example, the nucleic acids caninclude a vinyl sulfone or other reactive moiety. Optionally, thenucleic acids can include a reactive moiety having the formula S—S—R. Rcan be, for example, a protecting group. Optionally, R is hexanol. Asused herein, the term hexanol includes compounds with the formulaC₆H₁₃OH and includes, 1-hexanol, 2-hexanol, 3-hexanol,2-methyl-1-pentanol, 3-methyl-1-pentanol, 4-methyl-1-pentanol,2-methyl-2-pentanol, 3-methyl-2-pentanol, 4-methyl-2-pentanol,2-methyl-3-pentanol, 3-methyl-3-pentanol, 2,2-dimethyl-1-butanol,2,3-dimethyl-1-butanol, 3,3-dimethyl-1-butanol, 2,3-dimethyl-2-butanol,3,3-dimethyl-2-butanol, and 2-ethyl-1-butanol. Optionally, R is1-hexanol.

As used herein, the term “about” means a range of values including thespecified value, which a person of ordinary skill in the art wouldconsider reasonably similar to the specified value. In embodiments, theterm “about” means within a standard deviation using measurementsgenerally acceptable in the art. In embodiments, about means a rangeextending to +/−10% of the specified value. In embodiments, about meansthe specified value.

The terms “protein”, “peptide”, and “polypeptide” are usedinterchangeably to denote an amino acid polymer or a set of two or moreinteracting or bound amino acid polymers. The terms apply to amino acidpolymers in which one or more amino acid residue is an artificialchemical mimetic of a corresponding naturally occurring amino acid, aswell as to naturally occurring amino acid polymers and non-naturallyoccurring amino acid polymer.

The term “amino acid” refers to naturally occurring and synthetic aminoacids, as well as amino acid analogs and amino acid mimetics thatfunction in a manner similar to the naturally occurring amino acids.Naturally occurring amino acids are those encoded by the genetic code,as well as those amino acids that are later modified, e.g.,hydroxyproline, γ-carboxyglutamate, and O-phosphoserine. Amino acidanalogs refers to compounds that have the same basic chemical structureas a naturally occurring amino acid, i.e., an a carbon that is bound toa hydrogen, a carboxyl group, an amino group, and an R group, e.g.,homoserine, norleucine, methionine sulfoxide, methionine methylsulfonium. Such analogs have modified R groups (e.g., norleucine) ormodified peptide backbones, but retain the same basic chemical structureas a naturally occurring amino acid. Amino acid mimetics refers tochemical compounds that have a structure that is different from thegeneral chemical structure of an amino acid, but that functions in amanner similar to a naturally occurring amino acid. The terms“non-naturally occurring amino acid” and “unnatural amino acid” refer toamino acid analogs, synthetic amino acids, and amino acid mimetics whichare not found in nature.

Amino acids may be referred to herein by either their commonly knownthree letter symbols or by the one-letter symbols recommended by theIUPAC-IUB Biochemical Nomenclature Commission. Nucleotides, likewise,may be referred to by their commonly accepted single-letter codes.

“Conservatively modified variants” applies to both amino acid andnucleic acid sequences. With respect to particular nucleic acidsequences, conservatively modified variants refers to those nucleicacids which encode identical or essentially identical amino acidsequences, or where the nucleic acid does not encode an amino acidsequence, to essentially identical sequences. Because of the degeneracyof the genetic code, a large number of functionally identical nucleicacids encode any given protein. For instance, the codons GCA, GCC, GCGand GCU all encode the amino acid alanine. Thus, at every position wherean alanine is specified by a codon, the codon can be altered to any ofthe corresponding codons described without altering the encodedpolypeptide. Such nucleic acid variations are “silent variations,” whichare one species of conservatively modified variations. Every nucleicacid sequence herein which encodes a polypeptide also describes everypossible silent variation of the nucleic acid. One of skill willrecognize that each codon in a nucleic acid (except AUG, which isordinarily the only codon for methionine, and TGG, which is ordinarilythe only codon for tryptophan) can be modified to yield a functionallyidentical molecule. Accordingly, each silent variation of a nucleic acidwhich encodes a polypeptide is implicit in each described sequence withrespect to the expression product, but not with respect to actual probesequences.

As to amino acid sequences, one of skill will recognize that individualsubstitutions, deletions or additions to a nucleic acid, peptide,polypeptide, or protein sequence which alters, adds or deletes a singleamino acid or a small percentage of amino acids in the encoded sequenceis a “conservatively modified variant” where the alteration results inthe substitution of an amino acid with a chemically similar amino acid.Conservative substitution tables providing functionally similar aminoacids are well known in the art. Such conservatively modified variantsare in addition to and do not exclude polymorphic variants, interspecieshomologs, and alleles of the invention.

The following eight groups each contain amino acids that areconservative substitutions for one another: 1) Alanine (A), Glycine (G);2) Aspartic acid (D), Glutamic acid (E); 3) Asparagine (N), Glutamine(Q); 4) Arginine (R), Lysine (K); 5) Isoleucine (I), Leucine (L),Methionine (M), Valine (V); 6) Phenylalanine (F), Tyrosine (Y),Tryptophan (W); 7) Serine (S), Threonine (T); and 8) Cysteine (C),Methionine (M) (see, e.g., Creighton, Proteins (1984)).

The terms “identical” or percent “identity,” in the context of two ormore nucleic acids or polypeptide sequences, refer to two or moresequences or subsequences that are the same or have a specifiedpercentage of amino acid residues or nucleotides that are the same(i.e., about 60% identity, preferably 65%, 70%, 75%, 80%, 85%, 90%, 91%,92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, 99%, or higher identity over aspecified region, when compared and aligned for maximum correspondenceover a comparison window or designated region) as measured using a BLASTor BLAST 2.0 sequence comparison algorithms with default parametersdescribed below, or by manual alignment and visual inspection (see,e.g., NCBI web site http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/BLAST/ or the like).Such sequences are then said to be “substantially identical.” Thisdefinition also refers to, or may be applied to, the compliment of atest sequence. The definition also includes sequences that havedeletions and/or additions, as well as those that have substitutions. Asdescribed below, the preferred algorithms can account for gaps and thelike. Preferably, identity exists over a region that is at least about25 amino acids or nucleotides in length, or more preferably over aregion that is 50-100 amino acids or nucleotides in length.

For sequence comparisons, typically one sequence acts as a referencesequence, to which test sequences are compared. When using a sequencecomparison algorithm, test and reference sequences are entered into acomputer, subsequence coordinates are designated, if necessary, andsequence algorithm program parameters are designated. Preferably,default program parameters can be used, or alternative parameters can bedesignated. The sequence comparison algorithm then calculates thepercent sequence identities for the test sequences relative to thereference sequence, based on the program parameters.

A “comparison window”, as used herein, includes reference to a segmentof any one of the number of contiguous positions selected from the groupconsisting of from 20 to 600, usually about 50 to about 200, moreusually about 100 to about 150 in which a sequence may be compared to areference sequence of the same number of contiguous positions after thetwo sequences are optimally aligned. Methods of alignment of sequencesfor comparison are well-known in the art. Optimal alignment of sequencesfor comparison can be conducted, e.g., by the local homology algorithmof Smith & Waterman, Adv. Appl. Math. 2:482 (1981), by the homologyalignment algorithm of Needleman & Wunsch, J. Mol. Biol. 48:443 (1970),by the search for similarity method of Pearson & Lipman, Proc. Nat'l.Acad. Sci. USA 85:2444 (1988), by computerized implementations of thesealgorithms (GAP, BESTFIT, FASTA, and TFASTA in the Wisconsin GeneticsSoftware Package, Genetics Computer Group, 575 Science Dr., Madison,Wis.), or by manual alignment and visual inspection (see, e.g., CurrentProtocols in Molecular Biology (Ausubel et al., eds. 1995 supplement)).

A preferred example of algorithm that is suitable for determiningpercent sequence identity and sequence similarity are the BLAST andBLAST 2.0 algorithms, which are described in Altschul et al., Nuc. AcidsRes. 25:3389-3402 (1977) and Altschul et al., J. Mol. Biol. 215:403-410(1990), respectively.

For specific proteins described herein (e.g., TfR), the named proteinincludes any of the protein's naturally occurring forms, variants orhomologs that maintain the protein transcription factor activity (e.g.,within at least 50%, 80%, 90%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, 99% or 100% activitycompared to the native protein). In some embodiments, variants orhomologs have at least 90%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, 99% or 100% amino acidsequence identity across the whole sequence or a portion of the sequence(e.g. a 50, 100, 150 or 200 continuous amino acid portion) compared to anaturally occurring form. In other embodiments, the protein is theprotein as identified by its NCBI sequence reference. In otherembodiments, the protein is the protein as identified by its NCBIsequence reference, homolog or functional fragment thereof.

The term “TfR” as provided herein includes any of the transferrinreceptor (TfR) protein naturally occurring forms, homologs or variantsthat maintain the activity of TfR (e.g., within at least 50%, 80%, 90%,95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, 99% or 100% activity compared to the nativeprotein). In some embodiments, variants or homologs have at least 90%,95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, 99% or 100% amino acid sequence identity across thewhole sequence or a portion of the sequence (e.g. a 50, 100, 150 or 200continuous amino acid portion) compared to a naturally occurring form.In embodiments, the TfR protein is the protein as identified by the NCBIsequence reference GI:189458817. In embodiments, the TfR protein is theprotein as identified by the NCBI sequence reference GI:189458816. Inembodiments, the TfR protein is the protein as identified by the NCBIsequence reference GI:189458818. In embodiments, the TfR protein is theprotein as identified by the NCBI sequence reference GI:189458817,homolog or functional fragment thereof. In embodiments, the TfR proteinis the protein as identified by the NCBI sequence referenceGI:189458816, homolog or functional fragment thereof. In embodiments,the TfR protein is the protein as identified by the NCBI sequencereference GI:189458818, homolog or functional fragment thereof. Inembodiments, the TfR protein is encoded by a nucleic acid sequencecorresponding to Gene ID: 7037.

The term “C/EBPa” or “C/EBPalpha” as provided herein includes any of theCCAAT(cytosine-cytosine-adenosine-adensoine-thyrnidine)/enhancer-bindingprotein alpha (C/EBPa) naturally occurring forms, homologs or variantsthat maintain the transcription factor activity of C/EBPalpha (e.g.,within at least 50%, 80%, 90%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, 99% or 100% activitycompared to the native protein). In some embodiments, variants orhomologs have at least 90%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, 99% or 100% amino acidsequence identity across the whole sequence or a portion of the sequence(e.g. a 50, 100, 150 or 200 continuous amino acid portion) compared to anaturally occurring form. In embodiments, the C/EBPalpha protein is theprotein as identified by the NCBI sequence reference GI:551894998. Inembodiments, the C/EBPalpha protein is the protein as identified by theNCBI sequence reference GI:551894998, homolog or functional fragmentthereof. In embodiments, the C/EBPalpha protein is encoded by a nucleicacid sequence corresponding to Gene ID: GI:551894997.

A “cell” as used herein, refers to a cell carrying out metabolic orother function sufficient to preserve or replicate its genomic DNA. Acell can be identified by well-known methods in the art including, forexample, presence of an intact membrane, staining by a particular dye,ability to produce progeny or, in the case of a gamete, ability tocombine with a second gamete to produce a viable offspring. Cells mayinclude prokaryotic and eukaroytic cells. Prokaryotic cells include butare not limited to bacteria. Eukaryotic cells include but are notlimited to yeast cells and cells derived from plants and animals, forexample mammalian, insect (e.g., spodoptera) and human cells.

“Anti-cancer agent” is used in accordance with its plain ordinarymeaning and refers to a composition (e.g. compound, drug, antagonist,inhibitor, modulator) having antineoplastic properties or the ability toinhibit the growth or proliferation of cells. In embodiments, ananti-cancer agent is a chemotherapeutic. In embodiments, an anti-canceragent is an agent identified herein having utility in methods oftreating cancer. In embodiments, an anti-cancer agent is an agentapproved by the FDA or similar regulatory agency of a country other thanthe USA, for treating cancer. Examples of anti-cancer agents include,but are not limited to, MEK (e.g. MEK1, MEK2, or MEK1 and MEK2)inhibitors (e.g. XL518, CI-1040, PD035901, selumetinib/AZD6244,GSK1120212/trametinib, GDC-0973, ARRY-162, ARRY-300, AZD8330, PD0325901,U0126, PD98059, TAK-733, PD318088, AS703026, BAY 869766), alkylatingagents (e.g., cyclophosphamide, ifosfamide, chlorambucil, busulfan,melphalan, mechlorethamine, uramustine, thiotepa, nitrosoureas, nitrogenmustards (e.g., mechioroethamine, cyclophosphamide, chlorambucil,meiphalan), ethylenimine and methylmelamines (e.g., hexamethlymelamine,thiotepa), alkyl sulfonates (e.g., busulfan), nitrosoureas (e.g.,carmustine, lomusitne, semustine, streptozocin), triazenes(decarbazine)), anti-metabolites (e.g., 5-azathioprine, leucovorin,capecitabine, fludarabine, gemcitabine, pemetrexed, raltitrexed, folicacid analog (e.g., methotrexate), or pyrimidine analogs (e.g.,fluorouracil, floxouridine, Cytarabine), purine analogs (e.g.,mercaptopurine, thioguanine, pentostatin), etc.), plant alkaloids (e.g.,vincristine, vinblastine, vinorelbine, vindesine, podophyllotoxin,paclitaxel, docetaxel, etc.), topoisomerase inhibitors (e.g.,irinotecan, topotecan, amsacrine, etoposide (VP16), etoposide phosphate,teniposide, etc.), antitumor antibiotics (e.g., doxorubicin, adriamycin,daunorubicin, epirubicin, actinomycin, bleomycin, mitomycin,mitoxantrone, plicamycin, etc.), platinum-based compounds (e.g.cisplatin, oxaloplatin, carboplatin), anthracenedione (e.g.,mitoxantrone), substituted urea (e.g., hydroxyurea), methyl hydrazinederivative (e.g., procarbazine), or adrenocortical suppressant (e.g.,mitotane, aminoglutethimide), epipodophyllotoxins (e.g., etoposide).

Further examples of anti-cancer agents include, but are not limited to,antibiotics (e.g., daunorubicin, doxorubicin, bleomycin), enzymes (e.g.,L-asparaginase), inhibitors of mitogen-activated protein kinasesignaling (e.g. U0126, PD98059, PD184352, PD0325901, ARRY-142886,SB239063, SP600125, BAY 43-9006, wortmannin, or LY294002), mTORinhibitors, antibodies (e.g., rituxan), 5-aza-2′-deoxycytidine,doxorubicin, vincristine, etoposide, gemcitabine, imatinib (Gleevec®),geldanamycin, 17-N-Allylamino-17-Demethoxygeldanamycin (17-AAG),bortezomib, trastuzumab, anastrozole; angiogenesis inhibitors;antiandrogen, antiestrogen; antisense oligonucleotides; apoptosis genemodulators; apoptosis regulators; arginine deaminase; BCR/ABLantagonists; beta lactam derivatives; bFGF inhibitor; bicalutamide;camptothecin derivatives; casein kinase inhibitors (ICOS); clomifeneanalogues; cytarabine dacliximab; dexamethasone; estrogen agonists;estrogen antagonists; etanidazole; etoposide phosphate; exemestane;fadrozole; finasteride; fludarabine; fluorodaunorunicin hydrochloride;gadolinium texaphyrin; gallium nitrate; gelatinase inhibitors;gemcitabine; glutathione inhibitors; hepsulfam; immunostimulantpeptides; insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor inhibitor; interferonagonists; interferons; interleukins; letrozole; leukemia inhibitingfactor; leukocyte alpha interferon; leuprolide+estrogen+progesterone;leuprorelin; matrilysin inhibitors; matrix metalloproteinase inhibitors;MIF inhibitor; mifepristone; mismatched double stranded RNA; monoclonalantibody; mycobacterial cell wall extract; nitric oxide modulators;oxaliplatin; panomifene; pentrozole; phosphatase inhibitors; plasminogenactivator inhibitor; platinum complex; platinum compounds; prednisone;proteasome inhibitors; protein A-based immune modulator; protein kinaseC inhibitor; protein kinase C inhibitors, protein tyrosine phosphataseinhibitors; purine nucleoside phosphorylase inhibitors; ras farnesylprotein transferase inhibitors; ras inhibitors; ras-GAP inhibitor;ribozymes; signal transduction inhibitors; signal transductionmodulators; single chain antigen-binding protein; stem cell inhibitor;stem-cell division inhibitors; stromelysin inhibitors; syntheticglycosaminoglycans; tamoxifen methiodide; telomerase inhibitors; thyroidstimulating hormone; translation inhibitors; tyrosine kinase inhibitors;urokinase receptor antagonists; steroids (e.g., dexamethasone),finasteride, aromatase inhibitors, gonadotropin-releasing hormoneagonists (GnRH) such as goserelin or leuprolide, adrenocorticosteroids(e.g., prednisone), progestins (e.g., hydroxyprogesterone caproate,megestrol acetate, medroxyprogesterone acetate), estrogens (e.g.,diethlystilbestrol, ethinyl estradiol), antiestrogen (e.g., tamoxifen),androgens (e.g., testosterone propionate, fluoxymesterone), antiandrogen(e.g., flutamide), immunostimulants (e.g., Bacillus Calmette-Guérin(BCG), levamisole, interleukin-2, alpha-interferon, etc.), monoclonalantibodies (e.g., anti-CD20, anti-HER2, anti-CD52, anti-HLA-DR, andanti-VEGF monoclonal antibodies), immunotoxins (e.g., anti-CD33monoclonal antibody-calicheamicin conjugate, anti-CD22 monoclonalantibody-pseudomonas exotoxin conjugate, etc.), radioimmunotherapy(e.g., anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody conjugated to ¹¹¹In, ⁹⁰Y, or ¹³¹I,etc.), triptolide, homoharringtonine, dactinomycin, doxorubicin,epirubicin, topotecan, itraconazole, vindesine, cerivastatin,vincristine, deoxyadenosine, sertraline, pitavastatin, irinotecan,clofazimine, 5-nonyloxytryptamine, vemurafenib, dabrafenib, erlotinib,gefitinib, EGFR inhibitors, epidermal growth factor receptor(EGFR)-targeted therapy or therapeutic (e.g. gefitinib (Iressa™)erlotinib (Tarceva™), cetuximab (Erbitux™), lapatinib (Tykerb™),panitumumab (Vectibix™) vandetanib (Caprelsa™), afatinib/BIBW2992,CI-1033/canertinib, neratinib/HKI-272, CP-724714, TAK-285, AST-1306,ARRY334543, ARRY-380, AG-1478, dacomitinib/PF299804, OSI-420/desmethylerlotinib, AZD8931, AEE788, pelitinib/EKB-569, CUDC-101, WZ8040, WZ4002,WZ3146, AG-490, XL647, PD153035, BMS-599626), sorafenib, imatinib,sunitinib, dasatinib, or the like.

“Chemotherapeutic” or “chemotherapeutic agent” is used in accordancewith its plain ordinary meaning and refers to a chemical composition orcompound having antineoplastic properties or the ability to inhibit thegrowth or proliferation of cells.

Additionally, the ribonucleic acid compound described herein can beco-administered with or covalently attached to conventionalimmunotherapeutic agents including, but not limited to, immunostimulants(e.g., Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG), levamisole, interleukin-2,alpha-interferon, etc.), monoclonal antibodies (e.g., anti-CD20,anti-HER2, anti-CD52, anti-HLA-DR, anti-PD-1 and anti-VEGF monoclonalantibodies), immunotoxins (e.g., anti-CD33 monoclonalantibody-calicheamicin conjugate, anti-CD22 monoclonalantibody-pseudomonas exotoxin conjugate, etc.), and radioimmunotherapy(e.g., anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody conjugated to ¹¹¹In, ⁹⁰Y, or ¹³¹I,etc.).

In a further embodiment, the ribonucleic acid compounds described hereincan be coadministered with conventional radiotherapeutic agentsincluding, but not limited to, radionuclides such as ⁴⁷Sc, ⁶⁴Cu, ⁶⁷Cu,⁸⁹Sr, ⁸⁶Y, ⁸⁷Y, ⁹⁰Y, ¹⁰⁵Rh, ¹¹¹Ag, ¹¹¹In, ^(117m)Sn, ¹⁴⁹Pm, ¹⁵³Sm,¹⁶⁶Ho, ¹⁷⁷Lu, ¹⁸⁶Re, ¹⁸⁸Re, ²¹¹At, and ²¹²Bi, optionally conjugated toantibodies directed against tumor antigens.

The term “sample” includes sections of tissues such as biopsy andautopsy samples, and frozen sections taken for histological purposes.Such samples include blood and blood fractions or products (e.g., bonemarrow, serum, plasma, platelets, red blood cells, and the like),sputum, tissue, cultured cells (e.g., primary cultures, explants, andtransformed cells), stool, urine, other biological fluids (e.g.,prostatic fluid, gastric fluid, intestinal fluid, renal fluid, lungfluid, cerebrospinal fluid, and the like), etc. A sample is typicallyobtained from a “subject” such as a eukaryotic organism, most preferablya mammal such as a primate, e.g., chimpanzee or human; cow; dog; cat; arodent, e.g., guinea pig, rat, mouse; rabbit; or a bird; reptile; orfish. In some embodiments, the sample is obtained from a human.

A “control” sample or value refers to a sample that serves as areference, usually a known reference, for comparison to a test sample.For example, a test sample can be taken from a test condition, e.g., inthe presence of a test compound, and compared to samples from knownconditions, e.g., in the absence of the test compound (negativecontrol), or in the presence of a known compound (positive control). Acontrol can also represent an average value gathered from a number oftests or results. One of skill in the art will recognize that controlscan be designed for assessment of any number of parameters. For example,a control can be devised to compare therapeutic benefit based onpharmacological data (e.g., half-life) or therapeutic measures (e.g.,comparison of side effects). One of skill in the art will understandwhich controls are valuable in a given situation and be able to analyzedata based on comparisons to control values. Controls are also valuablefor determining the significance of data. For example, if values for agiven parameter are widely variant in controls, variation in testsamples will not be considered as significant.

“Disease” or “condition” refer to a state of being or health status of apatient or subject capable of being treated with a compound,pharmaceutical composition, or method provided herein. In embodiments,the disease is cancer (e.g. prostate cancer, renal cancer, metastaticcancer, melanoma, castration-resistant prostate cancer, breast cancer,triple negative breast cancer, glioblastoma, ovarian cancer, lungcancer, squamous cell carcinoma (e.g., head, neck, or esophagus),colorectal cancer, leukemia, acute myeloid leukemia, lymphoma, B celllymphoma, or multiple myeloma), an infectious disease (e.g., HIVinfection), an inflammatory disease (e.g., rheumatoid arthritis) or ametabolic disease (e.g., diabetes). In embodiments, the disease is adisease related to (e.g. caused by) an aberrant activity of TfR, TfRphosphorylation, or TfR pathway activity, or pathway activated by TfR.In some embodiments, the disease is cancer (e.g. prostate cancer, renalcancer, metastatic cancer, melanoma, castration-resistant prostatecancer, breast cancer, triple negative breast cancer, glioblastoma,ovarian cancer, lung cancer, squamous cell carcinoma (e.g., head, neck,or esophagus), colorectal cancer, leukemia, acute myeloid leukemia,lymphoma, B cell lymphoma, or multiple myeloma).

As used herein, the term “cancer” refers to all types of cancer,neoplasm or malignant tumors found in mammals, including leukemia,lymphoma, carcinomas and sarcomas. Exemplary cancers that may be treatedwith a compound, pharmaceutical composition, or method provided hereininclude lymphoma, sarcoma, bladder cancer, bone cancer, brain tumor,cervical cancer, colon cancer, esophageal cancer, gastric cancer, headand neck cancer, kidney cancer, myeloma, thyroid cancer, leukemia,prostate cancer, breast cancer (e.g. triple negative, ER positive, ERnegative, chemotherapy resistant, herceptin resistant, HER2 positive,doxorubicin resistant, tamoxifen resistant, ductal carcinoma, lobularcarcinoma, primary, metastatic), ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer,liver cancer (e.g. hepatocellular carcinoma), lung cancer (e.g.non-small cell lung carcinoma, squamous cell lung carcinoma,adenocarcinoma, large cell lung carcinoma, small cell lung carcinoma,carcinoid, sarcoma), glioblastoma multiforme, glioma, melanoma, prostatecancer, castration-resistant prostate cancer, breast cancer, triplenegative breast cancer, glioblastoma, ovarian cancer, lung cancer,squamous cell carcinoma (e.g., head, neck, or esophagus), colorectalcancer, leukemia, acute myeloid leukemia, lymphoma, B cell lymphoma, ormultiple myeloma. Additional examples include, cancer of the thyroid,endocrine system, brain, breast, cervix, colon, head & neck, esophagus,liver, kidney, lung, non-small cell lung, melanoma, mesothelioma, ovary,sarcoma, stomach, uterus or Medulloblastoma, Hodgkin's Disease,Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, multiple myeloma, neuroblastoma, glioma,glioblastoma multiforme, ovarian cancer, rhabdomyosarcoma, primarythrombocytosis, primary macroglobulinemia, primary brain tumors, cancer,malignant pancreatic insulanoma, malignant carcinoid, urinary bladdercancer, premalignant skin lesions, testicular cancer, lymphomas, thyroidcancer, neuroblastoma, esophageal cancer, genitourinary tract cancer,malignant hypercalcemia, endometrial cancer, adrenal cortical cancer,neoplasms of the endocrine or exocrine pancreas, medullary thyroidcancer, medullary thyroid carcinoma, melanoma, colorectal cancer,papillary thyroid cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, Paget's Disease ofthe Nipple, Phyllodes Tumors, Lobular Carcinoma, Ductal Carcinoma,cancer of the pancreatic stellate cells, cancer of the hepatic stellatecells, or prostate cancer.

The term “leukemia” refers broadly to progressive, malignant diseases ofthe blood-forming organs and is generally characterized by a distortedproliferation and development of leukocytes and their precursors in theblood and bone marrow. Leukemia is generally clinically classified onthe basis of (1) the duration and character of the disease-acute orchronic; (2) the type of cell involved; myeloid (myelogenous), lymphoid(lymphogenous), or monocytic; and (3) the increase or non-increase inthe number abnormal cells in the blood-leukemic or aleukemic(subleukemic). Exemplary leukemias that may be treated with a compound,pharmaceutical composition, or method provided herein include, forexample, acute nonlymphocytic leukemia, chronic lymphocytic leukemia,acute granulocytic leukemia, chronic granulocytic leukemia, acutepromyelocytic leukemia, adult T-cell leukemia, aleukemic leukemia, aleukocythemic leukemia, basophylic leukemia, blast cell leukemia, bovineleukemia, chronic myelocytic leukemia, leukemia cutis, embryonalleukemia, eosinophilic leukemia, Gross' leukemia, hairy-cell leukemia,hemoblastic leukemia, hemocytoblastic leukemia, histiocytic leukemia,stem cell leukemia, acute monocytic leukemia, leukopenic leukemia,lymphatic leukemia, lymphoblastic leukemia, lymphocytic leukemia,lymphogenous leukemia, lymphoid leukemia, lymphosarcoma cell leukemia,mast cell leukemia, megakaryocytic leukemia, micromyeloblastic leukemia,monocytic leukemia, myeloblastic leukemia, myelocytic leukemia, myeloidgranulocytic leukemia, myelomonocytic leukemia, Naegeli leukemia, plasmacell leukemia, multiple myeloma, plasmacytic leukemia, promyelocyticleukemia, Rieder cell leukemia, Schilling's leukemia, stem cellleukemia, subleukemic leukemia, or undifferentiated cell leukemia.

The term “sarcoma” generally refers to a tumor which is made up of asubstance like the embryonic connective tissue and is generally composedof closely packed cells embedded in a fibrillar or homogeneoussubstance. Sarcomas that may be treated with a compound, pharmaceuticalcomposition, or method provided herein include a chondrosarcoma,fibrosarcoma, lymphosarcoma, melanosarcoma, myxosarcoma, osteosarcoma,Abemethy's sarcoma, adipose sarcoma, liposarcoma, alveolar soft partsarcoma, ameloblastic sarcoma, botryoid sarcoma, chloroma sarcoma,chorio carcinoma, embryonal sarcoma, Wilms' tumor sarcoma, endometrialsarcoma, stromal sarcoma, Ewing's sarcoma, fascial sarcoma, fibroblasticsarcoma, giant cell sarcoma, granulocytic sarcoma, Hodgkin's sarcoma,idiopathic multiple pigmented hemorrhagic sarcoma, immunoblastic sarcomaof B cells, lymphoma, immunoblastic sarcoma of T-cells, Jensen'ssarcoma, Kaposi's sarcoma, Kupffer cell sarcoma, angiosarcoma,leukosarcoma, malignant mesenchymoma sarcoma, parosteal sarcoma,reticulocytic sarcoma, Rous sarcoma, serocystic sarcoma, synovialsarcoma, or telangiectaltic sarcoma.

The term “melanoma” is taken to mean a tumor arising from themelanocytic system of the skin and other organs. Melanomas that may betreated with a compound, pharmaceutical composition, or method providedherein include, for example, acral-lentiginous melanoma, amelanoticmelanoma, benign juvenile melanoma, Cloudman's melanoma, S91 melanoma,Harding-Passey melanoma, juvenile melanoma, lentigo maligna melanoma,malignant melanoma, nodular melanoma, subungal melanoma, or superficialspreading melanoma.

The term “carcinoma” refers to a malignant new growth made up ofepithelial cells tending to infiltrate the surrounding tissues and giverise to metastases. Exemplary carcinomas that may be treated with acompound, pharmaceutical composition, or method provided herein include,for example, medullary thyroid carcinoma, familial medullary thyroidcarcinoma, acinar carcinoma, acinous carcinoma, adenocystic carcinoma,adenoid cystic carcinoma, carcinoma adenomatosum, carcinoma of adrenalcortex, alveolar carcinoma, alveolar cell carcinoma, basal cellcarcinoma, carcinoma basocellulare, basaloid carcinoma, basosquamouscell carcinoma, bronchioalveolar carcinoma, bronchiolar carcinoma,bronchogenic carcinoma, cerebriform carcinoma, cholangiocellularcarcinoma, chorionic carcinoma, colloid carcinoma, comedo carcinoma,corpus carcinoma, cribriform carcinoma, carcinoma en cuirasse, carcinomacutaneum, cylindrical carcinoma, cylindrical cell carcinoma, ductcarcinoma, ductal carcinoma, carcinoma durum, embryonal carcinoma,encephaloid carcinoma, epiermoid carcinoma, carcinoma epithelialeadenoides, exophytic carcinoma, carcinoma ex ulcere, carcinoma fibrosum,gelatinifomi carcinoma, gelatinous carcinoma, giant cell carcinoma,carcinoma gigantocellulare, glandular carcinoma, granulosa cellcarcinoma, hair-matrix carcinoma, hematoid carcinoma, hepatocellularcarcinoma, Hurthle cell carcinoma, hyaline carcinoma, hypernephroidcarcinoma, infantile embryonal carcinoma, carcinoma in situ,intraepidermal carcinoma, intraepithelial carcinoma, Krompecher'scarcinoma, Kulchitzky-cell carcinoma, large-cell carcinoma, lenticularcarcinoma, carcinoma lenticulare, lipomatous carcinoma, lobularcarcinoma, lymphoepithelial carcinoma, carcinoma medullare, medullarycarcinoma, melanotic carcinoma, carcinoma molle, mucinous carcinoma,carcinoma muciparum, carcinoma mucocellulare, mucoepidermoid carcinoma,carcinoma mucosum, mucous carcinoma, carcinoma myxomatodes,nasopharyngeal carcinoma, oat cell carcinoma, carcinoma ossificans,osteoid carcinoma, papillary carcinoma, periportal carcinoma,preinvasive carcinoma, prickle cell carcinoma, pultaceous carcinoma,renal cell carcinoma of kidney, reserve cell carcinoma, carcinomasarcomatodes, schneiderian carcinoma, scirrhous carcinoma, carcinomascroti, signet-ring cell carcinoma, carcinoma simplex, small-cellcarcinoma, solanoid carcinoma, spheroidal cell carcinoma, spindle cellcarcinoma, carcinoma spongiosum, squamous carcinoma, squamous cellcarcinoma, string carcinoma, carcinoma telangiectaticum, carcinomatelangiectodes, transitional cell carcinoma, carcinoma tuberosum,tubular carcinoma, tuberous carcinoma, verrucous carcinoma, or carcinomavillosum.

As used herein, the terms “metastasis,” “metastatic,” and “metastaticcancer” can be used interchangeably and refer to the spread of aproliferative disease or disorder, e.g., cancer, from one organ oranother non-adjacent organ or body part. Cancer occurs at an originatingsite, e.g., breast, which site is referred to as a primary tumor, e.g.,primary breast cancer. Some cancer cells in the primary tumor ororiginating site acquire the ability to penetrate and infiltratesurrounding normal tissue in the local area and/or the ability topenetrate the walls of the lymphatic system or vascular systemcirculating through the system to other sites and tissues in the body. Asecond clinically detectable tumor formed from cancer cells of a primarytumor is referred to as a metastatic or secondary tumor. When cancercells metastasize, the metastatic tumor and its cells are presumed to besimilar to those of the original tumor. Thus, if lung cancermetastasizes to the breast, the secondary tumor at the site of thebreast consists of abnormal lung cells and not abnormal breast cells.The secondary tumor in the breast is referred to a metastatic lungcancer. Thus, the phrase metastatic cancer refers to a disease in whicha subject has or had a primary tumor and has one or more secondarytumors. The phrases non-metastatic cancer or subjects with cancer thatis not metastatic refers to diseases in which subjects have a primarytumor but not one or more secondary tumors. For example, metastatic lungcancer refers to a disease in a subject with or with a history of aprimary lung tumor and with one or more secondary tumors at a secondlocation or multiple locations, e.g., in the breast.

The term “associated” or “associated with” in the context of a substanceor substance activity or function associated with a disease (e.g.,diabetes, cancer (e.g. prostate cancer, renal cancer, metastatic cancer,melanoma, castration-resistant prostate cancer, breast cancer, triplenegative breast cancer, glioblastoma, ovarian cancer, lung cancer,squamous cell carcinoma (e.g., head, neck, or esophagus), colorectalcancer, leukemia, acute myeloid leukemia, lymphoma, B cell lymphoma, ormultiple myeloma)) means that the disease (e.g., diabetes, cancer (e.g.prostate cancer, renal cancer, metastatic cancer, melanoma,castration-resistant prostate cancer, breast cancer, triple negativebreast cancer, glioblastoma, ovarian cancer, lung cancer, squamous cellcarcinoma (e.g., head, neck, or esophagus), colorectal cancer, leukemia,acute myeloid leukemia, lymphoma, B cell lymphoma, or multiple myeloma)or viral disease (e.g., HIV infection associated disease)) is caused by(in whole or in part), or a symptom of the disease is caused by (inwhole or in part) the substance or substance activity or function.

The term “aberrant” as used herein refers to different from normal. Whenused to described enzymatic activity, aberrant refers to activity thatis greater or less than a normal control or the average of normalnon-diseased control samples. Aberrant activity may refer to an amountof activity that results in a disease, wherein returning the aberrantactivity to a normal or non-disease-associated amount (e.g. by using amethod as described herein), results in reduction of the disease or oneor more disease symptoms.

“Contacting” is used in accordance with its plain ordinary meaning andrefers to the process of allowing at least two distinct species (e.g.chemical compounds including biomolecules, or cells) to becomesufficiently proximal to react, interact or physically touch. It shouldbe appreciated, however, that the resulting reaction product can beproduced directly from a reaction between the added reagents or from anintermediate from one or more of the added reagents which can beproduced in the reaction mixture. Contacting may include allowing twospecies to react, interact, or physically touch, wherein the two speciesmay be a nucleic acid compound as described herein and a cell (e.g.,cancer cell).

Ribonucleic Acid Compounds

The ribonucleic acid compounds provided herein, including embodimentsthereof, are, inter alia, capable of binding a transferrin receptor(TfR) on a cell and internalizing into the cell. TfR is expressed withinand present on the surface of a broad variety of different cancer cells(e.g., breast cancer, pancreatic cancer, liver cancer, prostate cancer).Therefore, the ribonucleic acid compounds provided herein, includingembodiments thereof, may be used to deliver therapeutic or diagnosticmolecules into a TfR-expressing cancer cell. The therapeutic ordiagnostic molecule may form part of the ribonucleic acid compoundprovided herein including embodiments thereof. Where the therapeutic ordiagnostic molecule forms part (e.g., through covalent attachment) ofthe ribonucleic acid compound provided herein, including embodimentsthereof, the therapeutic or diagnostic molecule is referred to as a“compound moiety” (e.g., therapeutic moiety, imaging moiety).Alternatively, the therapeutic or diagnostic molecule may not form partof the ribonucleic acid compound provided herein, including embodimentsthereof, but may be independently internalized by a TfR-expressing cellupon binding of a ribonucleic acid compound provided herein to TfR onsaid cell. Where the therapeutic or diagnostic molecule does not formpart of the ribonucleic acid compound provided herein, the molecule isreferred to as a “compound.” The ribonucleic acid compounds providedherein including embodiments thereof provide highly specific andefficient means for targeted cancer drug delivery and molecular imaging.

In one aspect, a ribonucleic acid compound capable of binding to atransferrin receptor (TfR) on a cell and internalizing into the cell isprovided.

In one aspect, a ribonucleic acid compound including an RNA sequencehaving at least 80% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQID NO:3 is provided and the RNA sequence is at least 40 nucleotides inlength. In another aspect, a ribonucleic acid compound including an RNAsequence having at least 80% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ IDNO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3 is provided and the RNA sequence is at least 50nucleotides in length. Where the RNA sequence has at least 80% (80% ormore) sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3, theRNA sequence may have 80%, 85%, 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%,98%, 99% or 100% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ IDNO:3. In embodiments, the RNA sequence has at least 80% (80% or more)sequence identity to a nucleic acid that hybridizes to a sequence of SEQID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3. Where the RNA sequence is at least50 (50 nucleotides or more) nucleotides in length, the RNA sequence isat least 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75, 80, 85, 90, 95, 100, 110, 120, 130,140, 150, 160, 170, 180, 190 or 200 nucleotides in length. Inembodiments, the RNA sequence is at least 50 nucleotides in length.Where the RNA sequence is at least 40 (40 nucleotides or more)nucleotides in length, the RNA sequence is at least 40, 41, 42, 43, 44,45, 45, 47, 48, 49, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75, 80, 85, 90, 95, 100, 110,120, 130, 140, 150, 160, 170, 180, 190 or 200 nucleotides in length.Thus, in embodiments, the RNA sequence is about 43 nucleotides inlength.

In embodiments, the RNA sequence includes the sequence of SEQ ID NO:1,SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3. In embodiments, the RNA sequence is SEQ IDNO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3. In embodiments, the RNA sequence isSEQ ID NO:1. In embodiments, the RNA sequence is SEQ ID NO:2. Inembodiments, the RNA sequence is SEQ ID NO:3. In embodiments, the RNAsequence is an aptamer. In embodiments, the RNA sequence is about 40nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNA sequence is about 41nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNA sequence is about 42nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNA sequence is about 43nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNA sequence is about 44nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNA sequence is about 45nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNA sequence is about 46nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNA sequence is about 47nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNA sequence is about 48nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNA sequence is about 49nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNA sequence is about 50nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNA sequence is about 51nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNA sequence is about 52nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNA sequence is about 53nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNA sequence is about 54nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNA sequence is about 55nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNA sequence is about 60nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNA sequence is about 65nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNA sequence is about 70nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNA sequence is about 75nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNA sequence is about 80nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNA sequence is about 85nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNA sequence is about 87nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNA sequence is about 95nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNA sequence is about 100nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNA sequence is about 105nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNA sequence is about 110nucleotides in length.

In embodiments, the RNA sequence has at least 80% sequence identity toSEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3 and is at least 30 nucleotidesin length. In embodiments, the RNA sequence has at least 80% sequenceidentity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3 and is at least 35nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNA sequence has at least 80%sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3 and is atleast 40 nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNA sequence has atleast 80% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3and is at least 45 nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNAsequence has at least 80% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2or SEQ ID NO:3 and is at least 50 nucleotides in length. In embodiments,the RNA sequence has at least 80% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3 and is at least 55 nucleotides in length. Inembodiments, the RNA sequence has at least 80% sequence identity to SEQID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3 and is at least 60 nucleotides inlength. In embodiments, the RNA sequence has at least 80% sequenceidentity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3 and is at least 65nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNA sequence has at least 80%sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3 and is atleast 70 nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNA sequence has atleast 80% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3and is at least 75 nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNAsequence has at least 80% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2or SEQ ID NO:3 and is at least 80 nucleotides in length. In embodiments,the RNA sequence has at least 80% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3 and is at least 85 nucleotides in length. Inembodiments, the RNA sequence has at least 80% sequence identity to SEQID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3 and is at least 90 nucleotides inlength. In embodiments, the RNA sequence has at least 80% sequenceidentity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3 and is at least 95nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNA sequence has at least 80%sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3 and is atleast 100 nucleotides in length.

In embodiments, the RNA sequence has at least 85% sequence identity toSEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3 and is at least 30 nucleotidesin length. In embodiments, the RNA sequence has at least 85% sequenceidentity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3 and is at least 35nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNA sequence has at least 85%sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3 and is atleast 40 nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNA sequence has atleast 80% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3and is at least 45 nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNAsequence has at least 85% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2or SEQ ID NO:3 and is at least 50 nucleotides in length. In embodiments,the RNA sequence has at least 85% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3 and is at least 55 nucleotides in length. Inembodiments, the RNA sequence has at least 85% sequence identity to SEQID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3 and is at least 60 nucleotides inlength. In embodiments, the RNA sequence has at least 85% sequenceidentity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3 and is at least 65nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNA sequence has at least 85%sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3 and is atleast 70 nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNA sequence has atleast 85% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3and is at least 75 nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNAsequence has at least 85% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2or SEQ ID NO:3 and is at least 80 nucleotides in length. In embodiments,the RNA sequence has at least 85% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3 and is at least 85 nucleotides in length. Inembodiments, the RNA sequence has at least 85% sequence identity to SEQID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3 and is at least 90 nucleotides inlength. In embodiments, the RNA sequence has at least 85% sequenceidentity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3 and is at least 95nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNA sequence has at least 85%sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3 and is atleast 100 nucleotides in length.

In embodiments, the RNA sequence has at least 90% sequence identity toSEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3 and is at least 30 nucleotidesin length. In embodiments, the RNA sequence has at least 90% sequenceidentity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3 and is at least 35nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNA sequence has at least 90%sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3 and is atleast 40 nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNA sequence has atleast 80% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3and is at least 45 nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNAsequence has at least 90% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2or SEQ ID NO:3 and is at least 50 nucleotides in length. In embodiments,the RNA sequence has at least 90% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3 and is at least 55 nucleotides in length. Inembodiments, the RNA sequence has at least 90% sequence identity to SEQID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3 and is at least 60 nucleotides inlength. In embodiments, the RNA sequence has at least 90% sequenceidentity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3 and is at least 65nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNA sequence has at least 90%sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3 and is atleast 70 nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNA sequence has atleast 90% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3and is at least 75 nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNAsequence has at least 90% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2or SEQ ID NO:3 and is at least 80 nucleotides in length. In embodiments,the RNA sequence has at least 90% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3 and is at least 85 nucleotides in length. Inembodiments, the RNA sequence has at least 90% sequence identity to SEQID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3 and is at least 90 nucleotides inlength. In embodiments, the RNA sequence has at least 90% sequenceidentity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3 and is at least 95nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNA sequence has at least 90%sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3 and is atleast 100 nucleotides in length.

In embodiments, the RNA sequence has at least 95% sequence identity toSEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3 and is at least 30 nucleotidesin length. In embodiments, the RNA sequence has at least 95% sequenceidentity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3 and is at least 35nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNA sequence has at least 95%sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3 and is atleast 40 nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNA sequence has atleast 80% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3and is at least 45 nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNAsequence has at least 95% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2or SEQ ID NO:3 and is at least 50 nucleotides in length. In embodiments,the RNA sequence has at least 95% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3 and is at least 55 nucleotides in length. Inembodiments, the RNA sequence has at least 95% sequence identity to SEQID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3 and is at least 60 nucleotides inlength. In embodiments, the RNA sequence has at least 95% sequenceidentity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3 and is at least 65nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNA sequence has at least 95%sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3 and is atleast 70 nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNA sequence has atleast 95% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3and is at least 75 nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNAsequence has at least 95% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2or SEQ ID NO:3 and is at least 80 nucleotides in length. In embodiments,the RNA sequence has at least 95% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3 and is at least 85 nucleotides in length. Inembodiments, the RNA sequence has at least 95% sequence identity to SEQID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3 and is at least 90 nucleotides inlength. In embodiments, the RNA sequence has at least 95% sequenceidentity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3 and is at least 95nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNA sequence has at least 95%sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3 and is atleast 100 nucleotides in length.

In embodiments, the RNA sequence has at least 98% sequence identity toSEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3 and is at least 30 nucleotidesin length. In embodiments, the RNA sequence has at least 98% sequenceidentity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3 and is at least 35nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNA sequence has at least 98%sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3 and is atleast 40 nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNA sequence has atleast 80% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3and is at least 45 nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNAsequence has at least 98% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2or SEQ ID NO:3 and is at least 50 nucleotides in length. In embodiments,the RNA sequence has at least 98% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3 and is at least 55 nucleotides in length. Inembodiments, the RNA sequence has at least 98% sequence identity to SEQID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3 and is at least 60 nucleotides inlength. In embodiments, the RNA sequence has at least 98% sequenceidentity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3 and is at least 65nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNA sequence has at least 98%sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3 and is atleast 70 nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNA sequence has atleast 98% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3and is at least 75 nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNAsequence has at least 98% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2or SEQ ID NO:3 and is at least 80 nucleotides in length. In embodiments,the RNA sequence has at least 98% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3 and is at least 85 nucleotides in length. Inembodiments, the RNA sequence has at least 98% sequence identity to SEQID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3 and is at least 90 nucleotides inlength. In embodiments, the RNA sequence has at least 98% sequenceidentity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3 and is at least 95nucleotides in length. In embodiments, the RNA sequence has at least 98%sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3 and is atleast 100 nucleotides in length.

Upon binding TfR on the surface of a cell, the ribonucleic acid compoundprovided herein (including embodiments thereof) may be internalized bythe cell. The term “internalized,” “internalizing,” or “internalization”as provided herein refers to a composition (e.g., a compound, aribonucleic acid compound, a therapeutic agent, an imaging agent) beingdrawn into the cytoplasm of the cell (e.g. after being engulfed by acell membrane). In embodiments, the cell is a malignant cell. Inembodiments, the cell is a breast cancer cell. In embodiments, the cellis a prostate cancer cell. In embodiments, the cell is a liver cancercell. In embodiments, the cell is a pancreatic cancer cell. Inembodiments, the cell is a non-malignant cell.

The ribonucleic acid compound provided herein (including embodimentsthereof) may include a compound moiety. Where the ribonucleic acidcompound includes a compound moiety, the compound moiety may becovalently (e.g. directly or through a covalently bonded intermediary)attached to the RNA sequence (see, e.g., useful reactive moieties orfunctional groups used for conjugate chemistries set forth above). Thus,in embodiments, the ribonucleic acid compound further includes acompound moiety covalently attached to the RNA sequence. In embodiments,the compound moiety and the RNA sequence form a conjugate. Inembodiments, the compound moiety is non-covalently (e.g. through ionicbond(s), van der Waal's bond(s)/interactions, hydrogen bond(s), polarbond(s), or combinations or mixtures thereof) attached to the RNAsequence.

In embodiments, the compound moiety is a therapeutic moiety or animaging moiety covalently attached to the RNA sequence. The term“therapeutic moiety” as provided herein is used in accordance with itsplain ordinary meaning and refers to a monovalent compound having atherapeutic benefit (prevention, eradication, amelioration of theunderlying disorder being treated) when given to a subject in needthereof. Therapeutic moieties as provided herein may include, withoutlimitation, peptides, proteins, nucleic acids, nucleic acid analogs,small molecules, antibodies, enzymes, prodrugs, cytotoxic agents (e.g.toxins) including, but not limited to ricin, doxorubicin, daunorubicin,taxol, ethidium bromide, mitomycin, etoposide, tenoposide, vincristine,vinblastine, colchicine, dihydroxy anthracin dione, actinomycin D,diphteria toxin, Pseudomonas exotoxin (PE) A, PE40, abrin, andglucocorticoid. In embodiments, the therapeutic moiety is an anti-canceragent or chemotherapeutic agent as described herein. In embodiments, thetherapeutic moiety is a nucleic acid moiety, a peptide moiety or a smallmolecule drug moiety. In embodiments, the therapeutic moiety is anucleic acid moiety. In embodiments, the therapeutic moiety is a peptidemoiety. In embodiments, the therapeutic moiety is a small molecule drugmoiety. In embodiments, the therapeutic moiety is a nuclease. Inembodiments, the therapeutic moiety is an immunostimulator. Inembodiments, the therapeutic moiety is a toxin. In embodiments, thetherapeutic moiety is a nuclease. In embodiments, the therapeutic moietyis a zinc finger nuclease. In embodiments, the therapeutic moiety is atranscription activator-like effector nuclease. In embodiments, thetherapeutic moiety is Cas9.

In embodiments, the therapeutic moiety is an activating nucleic acidmoiety (a monovalent compound including an activating nucleic acid) oran antisense nucleic acid moiety (a monovalent compound including anantisense nucleic acid). An activating nucleic acid refers to a nucleicacid capable of detectably increasing the expression or activity of agiven gene or protein. The activating nucleic acid can increaseexpression or activity 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90% ormore in comparison to a control in the absence of the activating nucleicacid. In certain instances, expression or activity is 1.5-fold, 2-fold,3-fold, 4-fold, 5-fold, 10-fold or higher than the expression oractivity in the absence of the activating nucleic acid.

In embodiments, the therapeutic moiety is an miRNA moiety (a monovalentcompound including a miRNA), an mRNA moiety (a monovalent compoundincluding an mRNA), an siRNA moiety (a monovalent compound including ansiRNA) or an saRNA moiety (a monovalent compound including an saRNA). Inembodiments, the therapeutic moiety is a miRNA moiety. The term “miRNA”is used in accordance with its plain ordinary meaning and refers to asmall non-coding RNA molecule capable of post-transcriptionallyregulating gene expression. In one embodiment, a miRNA is a nucleic acidthat has substantial or complete identity to a target gene. Inembodiments, the miRNA inhibits gene expression by interacting with acomplementary cellular mRNA thereby interfering with the expression ofthe complementary mRNA. Typically, the miRNA is at least about 15-50nucleotides in length (e.g., each complementary sequence of the miRNA is15-50 nucleotides in length, and the miRNA is about 15-50 base pairs inlength). In other embodiments, the length is 20-30 base nucleotides,preferably about 20-25 or about 24-29 nucleotides in length, e.g., 20,21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, or 30 nucleotides in length. Inembodiments, the therapeutic moiety is a siRNA moiety or saRNA moiety asdescribed herein. In embodiments, the therapeutic moiety is ananticancer agent moiety. In embodiments, the therapeutic moiety is anmRNA moiety. In embodiments, the therapeutic moiety is a siRNA moiety.In embodiments, the therapeutic moiety is a saRNA moiety. Inembodiments, the therapeutic moiety is a cDNA moiety. In embodiments,the therapeutic moiety is a C/EBPalpha saRNA moiety. A “C/EBPalphasaRNA” as provided herein is a saRNA capable of activating theexpression of a C/EBPalpha protein.

The compound moiety provided herein may be an imaging moiety. An“imaging moiety” as provided herein is a monovalent compound detectableby spectroscopic, photochemical, biochemical, immunochemical, chemical,or other physical means. In embodiments, the imaging moiety iscovalently attached to the RNA sequence. Exemplary imaging moieties arewithout limitation ³²P, radionuclides, positron-emitting isotopes,fluorescent dyes, fluorophores, antibodies, bioluminescent molecules,chemoluminescent molecules, photoactive molecules, metals,electron-dense reagents, enzymes (e.g., as commonly used in an ELISA),magnetic contrast agents, quantum dots, nanoparticles, biotin,digoxigenin, haptens and proteins or other entities which can be madedetectable, e.g., by incorporating a radiolabel into a peptide orantibody specifically reactive with a target peptide. Any method knownin the art for conjugating an antibody to the moiety may be employed,e.g., using methods described in Hermanson, Bioconjugate Techniques1996, Academic Press, Inc., San Diego. Exemplary fluorophores includefluorescein, rhodamine, GFP, coumarin, FITC, AlExa fluor, Cy3, Cy5,BODIPY, and cyanine dyes. Exemplary radionuclides include Fluorine-18,Gallium-68, and Copper-64. Exemplary magnetic contrast agents includegadolinium, iron oxide and iron platinum, and manganese. In embodiments,the imaging moiety is a bioluminescent molecule. In embodiments, theimaging moiety is a photoactive molecule. In embodiments, the imagingmoiety is a metal. In embodiments, the imaging moiety is a nanoparticle.

Pharmaceutical Formulations

Pharmaceutical compositions of the ribonucleic acid compounds providedherein may include compositions having a therapeutic moiety contained ina therapeutically effective amount, i.e., in an amount effective toachieve its intended purpose. The pharmaceutical compositions of theribonucleic acid compounds provided herein may include compositionshaving imaging moieties contained in an effective amount, i.e., in anamount effective to achieve its intended purpose. The actual amounteffective for a particular application will depend, inter alia, on thecondition being treated, tested, detected, or diagnosed. Whenadministered in methods to treat a disease, such compositions willcontain an amount of active ingredient effective to achieve the desiredresult, e.g., modulating the activity of a target molecule, and/orreducing, eliminating, or slowing the progression of disease symptoms.Determination of a therapeutically effective amount of a therapeuticmoiety provided herein is well within the capabilities of those skilledin the art, especially in light of the detailed disclosure herein. Whenadministered in methods to diagnose or detect a disease, suchcompositions will contain an amount of an imaging moiety describedherein effective to achieve the desired result, e.g., detecting theabsence or presence of a target molecule, cell, or tumor in a subject.Determination of a detectable amount of an imaging moiety providedherein is well within the capabilities of those skilled in the art,especially in light of the detailed disclosure herein.

The dosage and frequency (single or multiple doses) administered to amammal can vary depending upon a variety of factors, for example,whether the mammal suffers from another disease, and its route ofadministration; size, age, sex, health, body weight, body mass index,and diet of the recipient; nature and extent of symptoms of the diseasebeing treated, kind of concurrent treatment, complications from thedisease being treated or other health-related problems. Othertherapeutic regimens or agents can be used in conjunction with themethods and compositions described herein including embodiments thereof.Adjustment and manipulation of established dosages (e.g., frequency andduration) are well within the ability of those skilled in the art.

For any composition (e.g., the ribonucleic acid compounds provided,combinations of an anticancer agent and the ribonucleic acid compoundprovided) described herein, the therapeutically effective amount can beinitially determined from cell culture assays. Target concentrationswill be those concentrations of active compound(s) that are capable ofachieving the methods described herein, as measured using the methodsdescribed herein or known in the art. As is well known in the art,effective amounts for use in humans can also be determined from animalmodels. For example, a dose for humans can be formulated to achieve aconcentration that has been found to be effective in animals. The dosagein humans can be adjusted by monitoring effectiveness and adjusting thedosage upwards or downwards, as described above. Adjusting the dose toachieve maximal efficacy in humans based on the methods described aboveand other methods is well within the capabilities of the ordinarilyskilled artisan.

In another aspect, a pharmaceutical formulation including theribonucleic acid compound as provided herein including embodimentsthereof and a pharmaceutically acceptable excipient is provided. Inembodiments, the ribonucleic acid includes a compound moiety covalentlyattached to the RNA sequence. As described above, the compound moietymay be a therapeutic moiety or an imaging moiety covalently attached tothe RNA sequence.

In another aspect, the pharmaceutical formulation includes theribonucleic acid compound as provided herein including embodimentsthereof and a therapeutic agent. In embodiments, the ribonucleic acidcompound and the therapeutic agent are not covalently attached. Atherapeutic agent as provided herein refers to a composition (e.g.compound, drug, antagonist, inhibitor, modulator) having a therapeuticeffect. In embodiments, the therapeutic agent is an anticancer agent. Inembodiments, the pharmaceutical formulation includes a pharmaceuticallyacceptable excipient.

“Pharmaceutically acceptable excipient” and “pharmaceutically acceptablecarrier” refer to a substance that aids the administration of an activeagent to and absorption by a subject and can be included in thecompositions of the present invention without causing a significantadverse toxicological effect on the patient. Non-limiting examples ofpharmaceutically acceptable excipients include water, NaCl, normalsaline solutions, lactated Ringer's, normal sucrose, normal glucose,binders, fillers, disintegrants, lubricants, coatings, sweeteners,flavors, salt solutions (such as Ringer's solution), alcohols, oils,gelatins, carbohydrates such as lactose, amylose or starch, fatty acidesters, hydroxymethycellulose, polyvinyl pyrrolidine, and colors, andthe like. Such preparations can be sterilized and, if desired, mixedwith auxiliary agents such as lubricants, preservatives, stabilizers,wetting agents, emulsifiers, salts for influencing osmotic pressure,buffers, coloring, and/or aromatic substances and the like that do notdeleteriously react with the compounds of the invention. One of skill inthe art will recognize that other pharmaceutical excipients are usefulin the present invention.

The term “pharmaceutically acceptable salt” refers to salts derived froma variety of organic and inorganic counter ions well known in the artand include, by way of example only, sodium, potassium, calcium,magnesium, ammonium, tetraalkylammonium, and the like; and when themolecule contains a basic functionality, salts of organic or inorganicacids, such as hydrochloride, hydrobromide, tartrate, mesylate, acetate,maleate, oxalate and the like.

The term “preparation” is intended to include the formulation of theactive compound with encapsulating material as a carrier providing acapsule in which the active component with or without other carriers, issurrounded by a carrier, which is thus in association with it.Similarly, cachets and lozenges are included. Tablets, powders,capsules, pills, cachets, and lozenges can be used as solid dosage formssuitable for oral administration.

The pharmaceutical preparation is optionally in unit dosage form. Insuch form the preparation is subdivided into unit doses containingappropriate quantities of the active component. The unit dosage form canbe a packaged preparation, the package containing discrete quantities ofpreparation, such as packeted tablets, capsules, and powders in vials orampoules. Also, the unit dosage form can be a capsule, tablet, cachet,or lozenge itself, or it can be the appropriate number of any of thesein packaged form. The unit dosage form can be of a frozen dispersion.

Methods of Delivery

As described above the ribonucleic acid compounds provided hereinincluding embodiments thereof may be used to deliver compound moietiesor compounds (e.g., therapeutic agents or an imaging agents) into acell. Where a compound moiety (e.g., therapeutic moiety or imagingmoiety) is delivered into a cell, the compound moiety may be covalentlyattached to the ribonucleic acid compound (RNA sequence) provided hereinincluding embodiments thereof. Upon binding of the ribonucleic acidcompound (RNA sequence) to TfR on a cell, the compound moiety isinternalized by the cell while being covalently attached to theribonucleic acid compound (RNA sequence). Thus, in one aspect, a methodof delivering a compound moiety into a cell is provided. The methodincludes, (i) contacting a cell with the ribonucleic acid compound asprovided herein including embodiments thereof and (ii) allowing theribonucleic acid compound to bind to a TfR on the cell and pass into thecell thereby delivering the compound moiety into the cell.

Alternatively, where a compound is delivered into a cell, the compound(e.g., a therapeutic agent or an imaging agent) may not be covalentlyattached to the ribonucleic acid compound (RNA sequence). Upon bindingof the nucleic acid compound provided herein including embodimentsthereof to TfR on a cell, the nucleic acid compound and the compoundprovided are internalized by the cell without being covalently attachedto each other. Thus, in another aspect, a method of delivering acompound into a cell is provided. The method includes (i) contacting acell with a compound and the ribonucleic acid compound as providedherein including embodiments thereof and (ii) allowing the ribonucleicacid compound to bind to a TfR on the cell and the compound to pass intothe cell thereby delivering the compound into the cell. In embodiments,the compound is a therapeutic agent or imaging agent. In embodiments,the compound is non-covalently attached to the ribonucleic acidcompound.

Methods of Treatment

As used herein, “treatment” or “treating,” or “palliating” or“ameliorating” are used interchangeably herein. These terms refer to anapproach for obtaining beneficial or desired results including but notlimited to therapeutic benefit and/or a prophylactic benefit. Bytherapeutic benefit is meant eradication or amelioration of theunderlying disorder being treated. Also, a therapeutic benefit isachieved with the eradication or amelioration of one or more of thephysiological symptoms associated with the underlying disorder such thatan improvement is observed in the patient, notwithstanding that thepatient may still be afflicted with the underlying disorder. Forprophylactic benefit, the compositions may be administered to a patientat risk of developing a particular disease, or to a patient reportingone or more of the physiological symptoms of a disease, even though adiagnosis of this disease may not have been made. Treatment includespreventing the disease, that is, causing the clinical symptoms of thedisease not to develop by administration of a protective compositionprior to the induction of the disease; suppressing the disease, that is,causing the clinical symptoms of the disease not to develop byadministration of a protective composition after the inductive event butprior to the clinical appearance or reappearance of the disease;inhibiting the disease, that is, arresting the development of clinicalsymptoms by administration of a protective composition after theirinitial appearance; preventing re-occurring of the disease and/orrelieving the disease, that is, causing the regression of clinicalsymptoms by administration of a protective composition after theirinitial appearance. For example, certain methods herein treat cancer(e.g. prostate cancer, renal cancer, metastatic cancer, melanoma,castration-resistant prostate cancer, breast cancer, triple negativebreast cancer, glioblastoma, ovarian cancer, lung cancer, squamous cellcarcinoma (e.g., head, neck, or esophagus), colorectal cancer, leukemia,acute myeloid leukemia, lymphoma, B cell lymphoma, or multiple myeloma).For example certain methods herein treat cancer by decreasing orreducing or preventing the occurrence, growth, metastasis, orprogression of cancer; or treat cancer by decreasing a symptom ofcancer. Symptoms of cancer (e.g. prostate cancer, renal cancer,metastatic cancer, melanoma, castration-resistant prostate cancer,breast cancer, triple negative breast cancer, glioblastoma, ovariancancer, lung cancer, squamous cell carcinoma (e.g., head, neck, oresophagus), colorectal cancer, leukemia, acute myeloid leukemia,lymphoma, B cell lymphoma, or multiple myeloma) would be known or may bedetermined by a person of ordinary skill in the art.

Where combination treatments are contemplated, it is not intended thatthe agents (i.e. ribonucleic acid compounds) described herein be limitedby the particular nature of the combination. For example, the agentsdescribed herein may be administered in combination as simple mixturesas well as chemical hybrids. An example of the latter is where the agentis covalently linked to a targeting carrier or to an activepharmaceutical. Covalent binding can be accomplished in many ways, suchas, though not limited to, the use of a commercially availablecross-linking agent.

An “effective amount” is an amount sufficient to accomplish a statedpurpose (e.g. achieve the effect for which it is administered, treat adisease, reduce enzyme activity, reduce one or more symptoms of adisease or condition, reduce viral replication in a cell). An example ofan “effective amount” is an amount sufficient to contribute to thetreatment, prevention, or reduction of a symptom or symptoms of adisease, which could also be referred to as a “therapeutically effectiveamount.” A “reduction” of a symptom or symptoms (and grammaticalequivalents of this phrase) means decreasing of the severity orfrequency of the symptom(s), or elimination of the symptom(s). A“prophylactically effective amount” of a drug is an amount of a drugthat, when administered to a subject, will have the intendedprophylactic effect, e.g., preventing or delaying the onset (orreoccurrence) of an injury, disease, pathology or condition, or reducingthe likelihood of the onset (or reoccurrence) of an injury, disease,pathology, or condition, or their symptoms. The full prophylactic effectdoes not necessarily occur by administration of one dose, and may occuronly after administration of a series of doses. Thus, a prophylacticallyeffective amount may be administered in one or more administrations. An“activity decreasing amount,” as used herein, refers to an amount ofantagonist required to decrease the activity of an enzyme or proteinrelative to the absence of the antagonist. A “function disruptingamount,” as used herein, refers to the amount of antagonist required todisrupt the function of an enzyme or protein relative to the absence ofthe antagonist. Guidance can be found in the literature for appropriatedosages for given classes of pharmaceutical products. For example, forthe given parameter, an effective amount will show an increase ordecrease of at least 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 75%, 80%,90%, or at least 100%. Efficacy can also be expressed as “-fold”increase or decrease. For example, a therapeutically effective amountcan have at least a 1.2-fold, 1.5-fold, 2-fold, 5-fold, or more effectover a control. The exact amounts will depend on the purpose of thetreatment, and will be ascertainable by one skilled in the art usingknown techniques (see, e.g., Lieberman, Pharmaceutical Dosage Forms(vols. 1-3, 1992); Lloyd, The Art, Science and Technology ofPharmaceutical Compounding (1999); Pickar, Dosage Calculations (1999);and Remington: The Science and Practice of Pharmacy, 20th Edition, 2003,Gennaro, Ed., Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins).

“Patient” or “subject in need thereof” refers to a living organismsuffering from or prone to a disease or condition that can be treated byusing the methods provided herein. The term does not necessarilyindicate that the subject has been diagnosed with a particular disease,but typically refers to an individual under medical supervision.Non-limiting examples include humans, other mammals, bovines, rats,mice, dogs, monkeys, goat, sheep, cows, deer, and other non-mammaliananimals. In embodiments, a patient is human.

As used herein, the term “administering” means oral administration,administration as a suppository, topical contact, intravenous,intraperitoneal, intramuscular, intralesional, intrathecal, intranasalor subcutaneous administration, or the implantation of a slow-releasedevice, e.g., a mini-osmotic pump, to a subject. Administration is byany route, including parenteral and transmucosal (e.g., buccal,sublingual, palatal, gingival, nasal, vaginal, rectal, or transdermal).Parenteral administration includes, e.g., intravenous, intramuscular,intra-arteriole, intradermal, subcutaneous, intraperitoneal,intraventricular, and intracranial. Other modes of delivery include, butare not limited to, the use of liposomal formulations, intravenousinfusion, transdermal patches, etc. By “co-administer” it is meant thata composition described herein is administered at the same time, justprior to, or just after the administration of one or more additionaltherapies, for example cancer therapies such as chemotherapy, hormonaltherapy, radiotherapy, or immunotherapy. The compounds of the inventioncan be administered alone or can be coadministered to the patient.Coadministration is meant to include simultaneous or sequentialadministration of the compounds individually or in combination (morethan one compound). Thus, the preparations can also be combined, whendesired, with other active substances (e.g. to reduce metabolicdegradation). The compositions of the present invention can be deliveredby transdermally, by a topical route, formulated as applicator sticks,solutions, suspensions, emulsions, gels, creams, ointments, pastes,jellies, paints, powders, and aerosols.

Utilizing the teachings provided herein, an effective prophylactic ortherapeutic treatment regimen can be planned that does not causesubstantial toxicity and yet is effective to treat the clinical symptomsdemonstrated by the particular patient. This planning should involve thecareful choice of active compound by considering factors such ascompound potency, relative bioavailability, patient body weight,presence and severity of adverse side effects, preferred mode ofadministration and the toxicity profile of the selected agent.

In another aspect, a method of treating cancer is provided. The methodincludes administering to a subject in need thereof an effective amountof the ribonucleic acid compound as provided herein (includingembodiments thereof) wherein the ribonucleic acid compound furtherincludes an anticancer therapeutic moiety. In another aspect, a methodof treating cancer is provided. The method includes administering to asubject in need thereof an effective amount of an anticancer agent and aribonucleic acid compound as provided herein including embodimentsthereof.

Methods of Detecting a Cell

The nucleic acid compositions provided herein may also be used for thedelivery of compounds and compound moieties to a cell expressing TfR. Asdescribed above, the compounds and compound moieties delivered may beimaging agents useful for cell detections. Thus, in one aspect, a methodof detecting a cell is provided. The method includes (i) contacting acell with the ribonucleic acid compound as provided herein includingembodiments thereof, wherein the ribonucleic acid compound furtherincludes an imaging moiety. (ii) The ribonucleic acid compound isallowed to bind to a transferrin receptor on the cell and pass into thecell. (iii) The imaging moiety is detected thereby detecting the cell.

In another aspect, a method of detecting a cell is provided. The methodincludes (i) contacting a cell with an imaging agent and the ribonucleicacid compound as provided herein including embodiments thereof (ii) Theribonucleic acid compound is allowed to bind to a transferrin receptoron the cell and the imaging agent is allowed to pass into the cell.(iii) The imaging agent is detected thereby detecting the cell.

In embodiments, the cell is a malignant cell. In embodiments, the cellis a breast cancer cell. In embodiments, the cell is a prostate cancercell. In embodiments, the cell is a liver cancer cell. In embodiments,the cell is a pancreatic cancer cell. In embodiments, the cell is anon-malignant cell. In embodiments, the cell forms part of an organism.In embodiments, the organism is a mammal. In embodiments, the cell formspart of a cell culture.

Examples

Protein SELEX (Systemic Evolution of Ligands by Exponential Enrichment)

The extracellular domain of TfR was purchased from Sino Biological Inc(11020-HO7H). The SELEX cycle was performed basically as described byTuerk and Gold_ENREF_1(Tuerk, C., Methods Mol Biol., 67, 219-230(1997)). In vitro selection was carried out essentially as described asfollows. The 2′F-RNA aptamers were selected from randomized sequences. Arandom library of RNA oligonucleotides of sequence5′-GGGAGACAAGAATAAACGCTCAA-N₄₀-TTCGACAGGAGGCTCACAA CAGGC-3′ (SEQ IDNO:4) [N40 represents 40 nucleotide (nt) sequences formed by equimolarincorporation of A, G, C, and U at each position] was constructed by invitro transcription of synthetic DNA templates with NTPs (2′F UTP, 2′FCTP, GTP, ATP, Epicentre Biotechnologies, Madision, Wis.) and T7 RNApolymerase. To increase the nuclease resistance, 2′F-RNAs were used. Toremove RNAs that bind nonspecifically to agarose beads, 1.44 uM of theRNA library was preincubated with 20 ul of Ni-NTA agarose beads in 100ul binding buffer (30 mM Tris-HCl, 150 mM NaCl, 1.5 mM MgCl2, 2 mMdithiothreitol, and 1% BSA) for 30 min at room temperature with shaking,precipitated by centrifugation, and discarded. The preclearedsupernatant was transferred to a new tube and incubated with 333 nM ofhis-tagged TfR for 30 min at room temperature. RNAs which bound to TfRwere recovered, amplified by RT-PCR and in vitro transcription, and usedin the following selection rounds. In subsequent rounds, capsidconcentration was reduced by 2-fold at every 3 round for more stringentcondition. After 12 rounds of SELEX, the resulting cDNA was amplified.The amplified DNA was cloned and individual clones were identified byDNA sequencing. Structures of aptamers were predicted using MFOLD(Zuker, M., Nucleic Acids Res., 31, 3406-3415 (2003)), available athttp://www.bioinfo.rpi.edu/applications/mfold/using a salt correctionalgorithm and temperature correction for 25° C.

Biosensor Assays

A BIAcore T100 (GE Healthcare, Uppsala, Sweden) was used to measurebinding parameters by surface plasmon resonance (SPR) technique.Briefly, the aptamer templates were amplified and tagged at the 39-endwith dT16 by PCR using 5′-template primer and dT16 tagging 3′-templateprimer. These DNA templates were then transcribed to poly (A)-tailedRNAs. A 5′-biotinylated dT16 oligomer was bound to the surface of thestreptavidin sensor chip (GE Healthcare) of flow cells 1 and 2. The poly(A)-tailed RNA was immobilized to about 100 RUs in flow cell 2 bycomplementary hybridization to the dT16 oligomer. TfR solution ofdifferent concentration between 100 and 6 nM was injected to the flowcells 1 and 2 of the sensor chip. Data was obtained by subtracting theflow cell 1 data from the flow cell 2 data, thereby showing the netinteraction between RNA and protein. To regenerate the sensor chip,bound material was completely removed by injecting 50mMNaOH. Kineticconstants were estimated by using BIAevaluation 3.0 software (GEHealthcare).

Live Cell Confocal Imaging for Cell Internalization

In order to test the internalization of the selected RNA aptamers incancer cells, the cells were grown in 35 mm glass bottom dishes (MatTek,Ashland, Mass., USA) with seeding at 1×10⁵ cells in medium for 24 hrs.The RNAs were labeled with Cy3 using the Cy3 Silencer siRNA labeling kit(Ambion, Tex., USA) following the manufacturer's instructions.Cy3-labeled RNAs at 100 nM were added to the cells and incubated for 1hour. Following the incubation, the cells were stained with 5 ug/mlHoechst 33342 (Molecular Probes, Calif., USA) for live cell nuclearstaining. The images were taken using a Zeiss LSM 510 Meta Inverted 2photon confocal microscope system using a C-Apo 40×/1.2NA Waterimmersion objective.

In Vitro Selection of RNA Aptamers to TfR

A library of 2′F RNAs was used to increase nuclease-resistance andenhance aptamer folding. To isolate 2′F RNA aptamers binding to intactcells, a library of approximately 440 different 2′F RNA molecules,containing a 40-nt-long random sequence flanked by defined sequences,was screened by SELEX. After 12 cycles of selection, the highly enrichedaptamer pools were cloned. The sequences of TR14 and TR18 are below andone single nucleotide difference between them. The expected structure byMFold was FIG. 1.

TR14: (SEQ ID NO: 1) GGGAGACAAGAAUAAACGCUCAAUGCGUUCACGUUUAUUCACAUUUUUGAAUUGAGCAUGAGCUUCGACAGGAGGCUCACAACAGGC TR18: (SEQ ID NO: 2)GGGAGACAAGAAUAAACGCUCAAUGCGUUUACGUUUAUUCACAUUUUUGAAUUGAGCAUGAGCUUCGACAGGAGGCUCACAACAGGC

TfR RNA Aptamers Specificity and Binding Affinity

To confirm the binding and measure the affinity of TR14, SPR wasutilized. The measured dissociation constants (K_(D)) was 31.7 pM (FIG.2).

Cell Internalization in Various Cancer Cells

To verify the cell internalization for therapeutics delivery, variouscancer cells were incubated with fluorescently labeled TR14 RNA (100nM). As seen in FIG. 3-5, TR14 got internalized in liver, pancreatic,prostate and breast cancer.

TABLE 1 Kinetics of TR14. ka (1/Ms) kd (1/s) KD (M) 3.70E+04 0.0011723.17E−11

TABLE 2 Kinetics of truncated TfR aptamer: ka (1/Ms) kd (1/s) KD (M)8.34E+08 5.77E−04 6.92E−13

Informal Sequence Listing

SEQ ID NO: 1 (TR14): 5′ GGGAGACAAGAAUAAACGCUCAAUGCGUUCACGUUUAUUCACAUUUUUGAAUUGAGCAUGAGCUUCGACAGGAGGCUCACAACAGGC 3′ SEQ ID NO: 2 (TR18): 5′GGGAGACAAGAAUAAACGCUCAAUGCGUUUACGUUUAUUCACAUUUUUGAAUUGAGCAUGAGCUUCGACAGGAGGCUCACAACAGGC 3′SEQ ID NO: 3 (truncated TfR aptamer): 5′GGGGCUCAAUGCGUUCACGUUUAUUCACAUUUUUGAAUUGAGC 3′

EMBODIMENTS

Embodiment 1. A ribonucleic acid compound comprising an RNA sequencehaving at least 80% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQID NO:3, wherein said RNA sequence is at least 40 nucleotides in length.

Embodiment 2. The ribonucleic acid compound of embodiment 1, whereinsaid RNA sequence is about 43 nucleotides in length.

Embodiment 3. The ribonucleic acid compound of embodiment 1, whereinsaid RNA sequence is at least 50 nucleotides in length.

Embodiment 4. The ribonucleic acid compound of one of embodiments 1-3,further comprising a compound moiety covalently attached to said RNAsequence.

Embodiment 5. The ribonucleic acid compound of embodiment 4, whereinsaid compound moiety is a therapeutic moiety or an imaging moietycovalently attached to said RNA sequence.

Embodiment 6. The ribonucleic acid compound of embodiment 5, whereinsaid therapeutic moiety is a nucleic acid moiety, a peptide moiety or asmall molecule drug moiety.

Embodiment 7. The ribonucleic acid compound of embodiment 5, whereinsaid therapeutic moiety is an activating nucleic acid moiety or anantisense nucleic acid moiety.

Embodiment 8. The ribonucleic acid compound of embodiment 5, whereinsaid therapeutic moiety is an miRNA moiety, mRNA moiety, siRNA moiety orsaRNA moiety.

Embodiment 9. The ribonucleic acid compound of embodiment 5, whereinsaid therapeutic moiety is an siRNA moiety or saRNA moiety.

Embodiment 10. The ribonucleic acid compound of one of embodiments 5 to9, wherein said therapeutic moiety is an anticancer agent moiety.

Embodiment 11. The ribonucleic acid compound of embodiment 5, whereinsaid therapeutic moiety is a C/EBPalpha saRNA moiety.

Embodiment 12. The ribonucleic acid compound of embodiment 5, whereinsaid imaging agent moiety is a bioluminescent molecule, a photoactivemolecule, a metal or a nanoparticle.

Embodiment 13. The ribonucleic acid compound of one of embodiments 1 or3 to 12, wherein said RNA sequence is 87 nucleotides in length.

Embodiment 14. The ribonucleic acid compound of one of embodiments 1 to13, wherein said RNA sequence is SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ IDNO:3.

Embodiment 15. A pharmaceutical formulation comprising the ribonucleicacid compound of one of embodiments 1 to 14 and a pharmaceuticallyacceptable excipient.

Embodiment 16. A pharmaceutical formulation comprising the ribonucleicacid compound of one of embodiments 1, 2, 13 or 14 and a therapeuticagent.

Embodiment 17. The pharmaceutical formulation of embodiment 16, whereinsaid therapeutic agent is an anticancer agent.

Embodiment 18. A method of delivering a compound moiety into a cell, themethod comprising: (i) contacting a cell with the ribonucleic acidcompound of one of embodiments 4 to 14; and (ii) allowing saidribonucleic acid compound to bind to a transferrin receptor on said celland pass into said cell thereby delivering said compound moiety intosaid cell.

Embodiment 19. A method of delivering a compound into a cell, the methodcomprising: (i) contacting a cell with a compound and the ribonucleicacid compound of one of embodiments 1, 2, 13 or 14; and (ii) allowingsaid ribonucleic acid compound to bind to a transferrin receptor on saidcell and said compound to pass into said cell thereby delivering saidcompound into said cell.

Embodiment 20. The method of embodiment 19, wherein said compound is atherapeutic agent or imaging agent.

Embodiment 21. A method of treating cancer, the method comprisingadministering to a subject in need thereof an effective amount of theribonucleic acid compound of one of embodiments 1 to 11, 13 or 14,wherein said ribonucleic acid compound further comprises an anticancertherapeutic moiety.

Embodiment 22. A method of treating cancer, the method comprisingadministering to a subject in need thereof an effective amount of ananticancer agent and the ribonucleic acid compound of one of embodiments1, 2, 13 or 14.

Embodiment 23. A method of detecting a cell, the method comprising: (i)contacting a cell with the ribonucleic acid compound of one ofembodiments 1 to 5 or 12 to 14, wherein said ribonucleic acid compoundfurther comprises an imaging moiety; (ii) allowing said ribonucleic acidcompound to bind to a transferrin receptor on said cell and pass intosaid cell; and (iii) detecting said imaging moiety thereby detectingsaid cell.

Embodiment 24. A method of detecting a cell, the method comprising: (i)contacting a cell with an imaging agent and the ribonucleic acidcompound of one of embodiments 1, 2, 13 or 14; (ii) allowing saidribonucleic acid compound to bind to a transferrin receptor on said celland said imaging agent to pass into said cell; and (iii) detecting saidimaging agent thereby detecting said cell.

What is claimed is:
 1. A ribonucleic acid compound comprising an RNAsequence, wherein said RNA sequence is the sequence of SEQ ID NO:1, SEQID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3.
 2. The ribonucleic acid compound of claim 1,further comprising a compound moiety covalently attached to said RNAsequence.
 3. The ribonucleic acid compound of claim 2, wherein saidcompound moiety is a therapeutic moiety or an imaging moiety covalentlyattached to said RNA sequence.
 4. The ribonucleic acid compound of claim3, wherein said therapeutic moiety is a nucleic acid moiety, a peptidemoiety or a small molecule drug moiety.
 5. The ribonucleic acid compoundof claim 3, wherein said therapeutic moiety is an activating nucleicacid moiety or an antisense nucleic acid moiety.
 6. The ribonucleic acidcompound of claim 3, wherein said therapeutic moiety is an miRNA moiety,an mRNA moiety, an siRNA moiety or an saRNA moiety.
 7. The ribonucleicacid compound of claim 3, wherein said therapeutic moiety is aC/EBPalpha saRNA moiety.
 8. A method of delivering a compound moietyinto a cell comprising a transferrin receptor, the method comprising:(i) directly contacting a cell with the ribonucleic acid compound ofclaim 4; and (ii) allowing said ribonucleic acid compound to bind to atransferrin receptor on said cell and pass into said cell therebydelivering said compound moiety into said cell.
 9. A pharmaceuticalformulation comprising the ribonucleic acid compound of claim 1 and apharmaceutically acceptable excipient.
 10. A pharmaceutical formulationcomprising the ribonucleic acid compound of claim 1 and a therapeuticagent.
 11. The pharmaceutical formulation of claim 10, wherein saidtherapeutic agent is an anticancer agent.
 12. A method of delivering acompound into a cell comprising a transferrin receptor, the methodcomprising: (i) directly contacting a cell with a compound and theribonucleic acid compound of claim 1; and (ii) allowing said ribonucleicacid compound to bind to a transferrin receptor on said cell and saidcompound to pass into said cell thereby delivering said compound intosaid cell.
 13. A method of treating cancer comprising a cell comprisinga transferrin receptor, the method comprising intratumorallyadministering to a subject in need thereof an effective amount of theribonucleic acid compound of claim 1, wherein said ribonucleic acidcompound further comprises an anticancer therapeutic moiety.
 14. Amethod of treating cancer comprising a cell comprising a transferrinreceptor, the method comprising intratumorally administering to asubject in need thereof an effective amount of an anticancer agent andthe ribonucleic acid compound of claim
 1. 15. A method of detecting acell comprising a transferrin receptor, the method comprising: (i)directly contacting a cell with the ribonucleic acid compound of claim1, wherein said ribonucleic acid compound further comprises an imagingmoiety; (ii) allowing said ribonucleic acid compound to bind to atransferrin receptor on said cell and pass into said cell; and (iii)detecting said imaging moiety thereby detecting said cell.
 16. A methodof detecting a cell comprising a transferrin receptor, the methodcomprising: (i) contacting a cell directly with an imaging agent and theribonucleic acid compound of claim 1; (ii) allowing said ribonucleicacid compound to bind to a transferrin receptor on said cell and saidimaging agent to pass into said cell; and (iii) detecting said imagingagent thereby detecting said cell.